3 —  ~  ""I 

Published  by 

H.  B.  WIGGIN’S  SONS  CO. 
BLOOMFIELD,  N.  J. 
CHICAGO,  ILL. 


Copyright  H.  B.  Wiggin’s  Sons  Co. 
1928 


Interior  of  Church  Finished  in  Rufkote 


Rufkote  Text  Book 

of 

Artistic  Wall  Textures 


Decorator’s  Guide  for 
Producing  Practical  and 
Artistic  Plastic  Stone  Wall 
Tfextures  With  the  Use  of 
Rufkote 


By 

F.  N.  VANDERWALKER 

Editor  of  "American  Painter  and  Dec¬ 
orator,”  author  of  "Interior  Wall 
Decoration,”  "The  Mixing  of  Colors 
AND  Paints,”  "FiousE  Painting  Meth¬ 
ods,”  "Wood  Finishing,  Plain  and  Deco¬ 
rative,”  "Automobile  Painting,”  "New 
Stencils  and  Their  Use” 


RUFKOTE 

Plastic  Stone  for  Interior  Walls 
Applied  Like  Paint 


Fig.  2. 

High  Relief  Stencil  W ork  with  Rufkote 


Foreword 


ETWEEN  the  necessarily  concise  mixing  direc¬ 
tions  which  go  out  with  manufactured  ma¬ 
terials  and  the  general  discussions  and  writ¬ 
ings  about  practical  and  artistic  uses  of 
plastic  paints  for  producing  texture  patterns  there  is 
an  educational  need  which  this  book  is  aimed  to 
fulfill. 


In  the  following  pages  will  be  found  a  full  record 
in  word  and  picture  of  tools,  methods  and  materials 
essential  to  the  preparation  of  surfaces  and  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  many  of  the  textures  done  with  Rufkote, 
the  plastic  stone,  to  gain  enduring,  practical  and 
artistic  finishes. 


It  is  our  belief  that  this  mode  of  decoration  offers 
much  of  practical  utility  as  well  as  unlimited  latitude 
as  a  medium  for  expression  of  artistic  ideas  and  taste. 
It  has  gained  a  permanent  place  among  decorative 
materials.  In  keeping  with  this  belief  it  is  our  wish 
to  disseminate  all  possible  information  about  methods 
in  common  use  by  the  better  decorators  who  employ 
the  plastic  medium  with  wonderously  beautiful  effect 
on  all  manner  of  interior  surfaces. 


CHAPTER  I 

A  Bit  of  History  of  Textures 

ORNAMENT  Scratched  in  plaster  and  mud  is  the  oldest  form 
of  surface  decoration  of  record.  Even  before  primitive 
man  developed  characteristics  which  we  of  this  day  would 
consider  civilized,  he  began  to  scratch  language  and  decoration 
on  walls  of  his  habitation  in  caves,  mud  huts  and  cliff  abodes.  A 
little  later  when  the  struggle  for  self-preservation,  food  and 
shelter  grew  a  little  less  strenuous  man  made  better  plaster  and 
decorated  it  by  scratching  more  ornately  and  with  color. 

Perfection  in  mixing  plaster  was  reached  at  a  very  remote 
period  as  is  well  indicated  by  examination  of  the  earliest  samples 
still  standing  in  hard,  durable  condition.  The  scientific  compo¬ 
sition  of  such  examples  compares  even  favorably  with  modern 
plasters.  The  Pyramids  of  Egypt  contain  plastering  done  at  least 
four  thousand  years  ago  still  hard  and  serviceable.  It  is  interest¬ 
ing  to  note  from  recent  discoveries  that  the  principal  tools  of 
the  ancients  were  substantially  identical  in  design,  shape  and 
purpose  with  modern  tools.  Also  that  the  plaster  so  much  used 
by  the  Egyptians  was  made  of  calcined  gypsum  like  the  plaster 
of  Paris  of  today.  Reeds  were  used  for  lath. 

In  Greece  the  plastering  art  was  perfected  more  than  five 
centuries  before  Christ.  Plaster  was  of  fine  white,  strong  quality 
and  was  used  on  both  exterior  and  interior  surfaces  of  temples. 
Plaster  was  even  used  over  marble  as  a  ground  for  decorative 
painting. 

Through  the  ages  plaster  and  ornamental  textures  have  been 
intimately  a  part  of  building  construction.  During  the  Italian 
Renaissance,  beginning  about  1450  A.  D.,  the  artistic  character 
of  decorated  plastic  surface  materials  was  showing  great  improve¬ 
ment.  In  Italy,  Spain,  France  and  England  there  developed 
many  of  the  textures  which  are  most  interesting  to  us.  Methods 
of  early  peoples  improved  with  time  and  some  fine  textures  and 
ornamental  work  were  done  in  plaster  and  plastic  compositions 
of  gesso  and  compo.  Really  artistic  ceilings  of  ornamented  design 
were  done  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  Elizabeth  and  James  I  of 
England.  They  are  still  admired  to  this  day. 

Coming  down  to  the  period  which  dates  from  about  175  0  to 
1780  when  the  Adam  brothers,  Robert,  James,  John  and  Wil¬ 
liam,  were  active,  those  famous  architects  and  furniture  designers 
from  whom  we  get  the  Adam  period  furniture  design,  we  find 
Robert  Adam  made  use  of  plastic  compositions  for  moulding 
delicate  forms  in  subtle  and  beautiful  proportions,  “His  compo 
was  used  so  successfully  that  the  patent  was  infringed.  Many  of 
his  moulds  still  exist  and  are  in  constant  use.” 


[6] 


Fig.  3. 

Example  of  Egyptun  Plastering  showing  Queen  Arsinoe  as  the 
Goddess  Hathor  in  Temple  of  Der-el-Medineh,  Thebes. 


[7] 


To  define  the  differences  between  plaster,  plastic  compositions 
and  plastic  paint  as  used  of  old  is  all  but  beyond  possibility.  In 
many  instances  probably  the  chief  difference  was  in  tools  em¬ 
ployed  —  whether  a  brush  or  the  hand  were  used.  The  history 
of  relief  textures  and  patterns  runs  through  all  plastic  mediums 
from  common  mud  to  the  gypsum  plasters,  portland  cement  stucco 
and  plastic  paints  of  today.  Many  of  the  world’s  fine  old  master¬ 
pieces  from  the  Renaissance  and  later  periods,  were  done  in  the 
Italian  plastic  medium  called  Gesso  Duro,  the  exact  composition 
of  which  is  lost  in  history.  Today  we  call  a  mixture  of  whiting, 
glue  and  water  gesso  —  but  it  is  certain  that  the  original  gesso 
was  something  else,  or  at  least  something  in  addition,  because 
its  great  durability  far  exceeds  the  modern  gesso.  Then  there 
were  the  plastic  composition  called  by  the  English  artists  and 
decorators  by  the  name  Compo,  the  Germans  had  Spechtelkitt 
and  the  Swedish  what  we  still  use  and  call  Swedish  putty.  The 
compositions  of  all  of  these  vary  from  one  generation  of  deco¬ 
rators  to  another  and  this  variation  has  been  the  great  fault  of 
such  plastic  compositions,  because  lacking  the  standardized  manu¬ 
facture  of  modern  plastics  they  exhibit  all  manner  of  faults  in 
durability.  Some  of  them  are  quite  durable  and  have  working 
properties  in  texturing  which  are  satisfactory,  but  no  one  ever 
seemed  to  be  satisfied  to  develop  a  formula  which  is  both  work¬ 
able  and  durable  and  then  stick  to  it.  Consequently,  plastic 
wall  finish  textures  done  with  these  odd  and  variable  composi¬ 
tions  often  break  down  by  scaling  off  around  the  trim,  by  being 
too  hard,  too  soft  or  by  shrinking  too  much. 

It  is  difficult  to  locate  the  place  of  beginning  and  date  of 
historic  relief  textures  done  with  plastic  compositions.  It  is 
definitely  known,  however,  that  Gesso  was  much  used  in  the  Sev¬ 
enteenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  and  specimens  of  gesso  relief 
work  done  in  those  times  and  during  the  Italian  Renaissance  are 
still  to  be  seen  in  old  houses  and  museums.  That  period  of 
revival  of  great  interest  in  life,  the  world,  science,  literature  and 
the  fine  arts  spread  to  Spain,  France  and  England  and  we  can 
trace  to  these  countries  such  modern  textures  as  Spanish  Palm 
finish,  Italian  plaster.  Travertine,  Roman  tile,  Old  English,  and 
others. 

The  very  crude,  hand-modeled  textures  apparently  were  of 
short  duration  in  England.  While  the  plastic  compositions  were 
used  there  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  for 
low  relief  and  wall  patterns  the  predominant  wall  textures  were 
Old  English  done  with  trowels  and  floats,  and  Jacobean  which 
was  very  similar  to  our  modern  rough  sand  finish  plaster,  prob¬ 
ably  showing  the  tool  marks,  however,  in  a  less  refined  way. 
American  Colonial  walls,  too,  were  finished  in  these  same  tex¬ 
tures  to  a  large  extent;  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  modern 
advertising  might  lead  one  to  believe  that  nearly  all  Colonial 
walls  were  finished  with  wallpaper. 

[8] 


IftsK'i 


.K  >\ 


s'\ ; 


r  <  • '  ''^  \l 


^  r,.  "'  >^^'f  -  4?-^  i:  I  I 

■<:■'■■  ■'^-  •V,'?  :^-..  ' 


-  .  *  '/  .  *'*.  •  f  ■  w^  'ix 

■h  ’ ''''v  '  '■  '  '■'V'‘!’‘V* 

I'  '  ‘  :  J  /  '*'  f 


Old  lin^Usi]  Finish 


[9] 


Fig.  4.  An  historic  and  charming  background  effect  reproduced  with 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone. 


Rufkote  for  Interior  Walls 

This  material  really  amounts  to  a  plastic  stone  which  is  applied 
with  a  brush.  When  dry  it  is  far  harder,  tougher  and  more 
durable  than  plaster.  It  adheres  tenaciously  to  plaster,  wood, 
brick,  cement  and  wall  board  surfaces.  Rufkote  is  a  powdered 
mineral,  free  from  any  animal  matter,  which  when  mixed  with 
cold  water  becomes  an  odorless  plastic  composition  of  proper 
consistency  ready  for  instant  use. 

It  is  far  easier  to  work  effectively  in  texturing  Rufkote  than 
when  using  oil  mixtures.  Rufkote  is  washed  off  tools  easily 
with  water  and  consequently  the  decorator  is  able  to  keep  his 
tools  in  just  the  right  clean  condition  for  rapid  and  effective 
work  by  using  plenty  of  water  for  washing.  This  eliminates  the 
expense  of  spirit  solvents  needed  for  oil  mixtures.  Rufkote, 
before  it  is  set,  is  easily  washed  off  woodwork  without  leaving 
marks  of  any  kind. 

Rufkote  sets  without  shrinkage  with  the  result  that  very 
high  relief  and  bold  textures,  as  well  as  a  wide  range  of  simple 
and  low  relief  patterns,  are  practical  with  it.  Once  it  sets  it  is 
hard  and  resists  abrasion  and  shock  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is 
not  easily  marred.  When  the  texture  has  been  completed  it  will 
hold  its  form  exactly  without  wilting. 

Rufkote  will  not  fade  colors,  nor  will  it  set  up  adverse  chem¬ 
ical  reactions  in  paint  pigments  applied  over  it.  It  can  be  tex- 
cured  and  modeled  into  any  form  and  is  used  by  decorators  to 
reproduce  historic  period  decoration,  conservative  modern  tex¬ 
tures  and  a  wide  variety  of  novelty  types  of  decoration.  With 
it  one  having  old  walls  of  any  type  can  have  the  surface  replaced 
quickly  and  inexpensively  with  splendid  results. 

Rufkote  when  dry  has  no  gloss.  It  may  be  used  in  the 
white,  its  natural  color,  or  can  be  tinted  with  dry  colors  or 
tinting  colors  ground  in  oil.  When  coated  with  Rufkote  Wall 
Glaze  the  surface  finishes  with  an  egg-shell  or  semi-gloss. 


[10] 


f 

I 

I 


Fig.  5. 

The  Famous  Ring  Test. 


A  brass  ring  three  inches  in  diameter  and  one  inch  high  is 
placed  upon  a  glass  plate  and  filled  with  wet  Rufkote.  The  top 
being  struck  to  a  smooth,  true  surface. 

After  the  Rufkote  thoroughly  dries,  no  cracks  or  shrinkage 
will  develop,  the  Rufkote  still  fills  the  ring  to  a  tight  fit.  The 
surface  is  still  true  and  even. 

This  demonstrates  how  Rufkote  sets  without  shrinkage  and 
indicates  that  when  a  texture  is  satisfactorily  developed  with 
the  wet  material  it  may  be  counted  upon  to  dry  out  in  its 
original  size  and  shape. 


[IIJ 


CHAPTER  II 


Backgrounds  of  Colorful,  Enduring  Charm 

Though  the  walls  and  ceilings  of  rooms  may  not  be  the 
focal  points  of  interest,  they  are  the  backgrounds  and  as  such 
are  vitally  important.  The  use  of  plastic  stone  offers  great 
opportunity  to  add  suitable  textural  patterns  and  good  coloring 
to  these  backgrounds.  The  urge  to  use  more  and  more  color  has 
always  been  with  us  but  not  until  recent  years  have  we  yielded 
to  satisfy  that  desire.  Fear  that  one  may  use  inharmonious  com¬ 
binations  has  delayed  this  enjoyment  of  color  but  we  have 
learned  not  to  fear  what  we  like  in  color  and  how  to  employ  it 
effectively  —  mainly  through  greater  appreciation  and  knowl¬ 
edge  of  interior  decoration  among  all  classes.  This  color  revival 
is  evident  in  many  phases  of  life,  in  dress,  automobile  colors  and 
more  daring  use  of  color  on  furniture  and  interior  surfaces 
generally. 

The  great  interest  which  attaches  to  plastic  relief  finish  in  this 
day  is  not  built  alone  upon  either  artistic  or  practical  considera¬ 
tion  but  upon  a  combination  of  both.  Many  circumstances  or 
conditions  contribute  toward  the  wide  acceptance  of  plastic  low 
relief  textures  done  with  Rufkote.  Rough  textured  walls  offer 
interest  unknown  to  smooth  wall  finishes,  even  though  the 
smooth  finishes  have  pattern  and  color.  Artistic  variation  in 
textural  patterns,  in  color  shadings  and  in  the  play  of  light  and 
shadow  due  to  the  relief  character  of  rough  textures  with  high 
and  low  points  offer  charming  effects  of  enduring  beauty,  en¬ 
during  in  the  sense  that  the  material  is  extremely  durable  and 
also  because  this  form  of  decoration  is  easy  to  live  with  intimately 
day  after  day.  There  is  no  element  of  monotony  in  well  textured 
and  colored  walls  an^  they  are  easy  to  produce.  Then  as  time 
goes  by  they  take  on  a  mellow  coloring  of  age  which  has  an 
appeal  all  its  own,  that  charm  inherent  in  good  things  which 
are  not  shiny  and  new  but  show  signs  of  human  association. 

Rufkote  is  a  modern  plastic  with  unlimited  uses  as  a  decora¬ 
tive  medium.  With  it  there  is  no  need  to  be  bound  alone  to 
reproductions  of  historic  textures,  interesting  as  they  are;  new 
modern  textures  are  available  in  numbers  without  limit  —  and 
still  more  come  with  delightful  unexpectedness  as  the  worker 
uses  this  material.  Textures  in  keeping  with  the  small  room  may 
be  easily  controlled;  for  the  formal  room,  there  are  many  suit¬ 
able  textures  —  and  when  it  comes  to  novelty  treatments  for 
places  of  amusement,  business  shops  and  the  like  there  are  more 
interesting  textures  available  than  can  be  imagined.  There  are 
few  materials  with  which  unity  of  color,  form  and  composition 
can  be  produced  as  successfully  as  can  be  done  with  Rufkote. 

ri2] 


Now  a  word  about  the  practical  utility  of  Rufkote  relief 
textures.  It  may  be  used  on  smooth  or  rough  plaster,  on  brick, 
wood,  wall  board  or  metal.  It  is  much  stronger  and  tougher  than 
plaster.  Consequently,  the  many  rooms  of  smooth  plaster  in  bad 
shape,  plaster  which  has  been  patched  and  still  has  the  hole  in 
the  middle,  may  be  easily  and  inexpensively  made  perfect  with 
Rufkote.  With  it  the  cracks  are  permanently  filled.  The  same 
is  true  of  sand  finished  walls,  of  the  occasional  brick  walls  which 
mar  sun  parlors  and  enclosed  porches.  Wall  board  is  effectively 
decorated  with  this  plastic  medium  so  the  joints,  when  properly 
reinforced  and  filled  before  Rufkote  is  used  over  them,  do  not 
appear. 


Fig.  6.  Spanish  Palm  Finish 


[13  ] 


Appropriate  Textures 

One  of  the  important  considerations  with  texture  finishes  is 
the  use  of  suitable  textures  lor  each  size  and  type  of  room,  but 
the  selection  of  appropriate  textures  is  so  easy  as  to  hardly  call 
for  comment;  it  is  quite  as  obvious  as  the  choice  of  colors. 
Everybody  appreciates  that  for  large,  strong,  rugged  and  bold 
surfaces  the  employment  of  all  pure  colors  with  moderately 
strong  contrasts  of  hues,  values  and  intensities  is  the  proper 
choice,  generally  speaking.  Likewise  we  all  know  that  the  deli¬ 
cate,  fine  modeled,  fine  lined  and  frail  surfaces  call  for  the  use 
of  light,  airy  tints  and  shades.  It  is  equally  evident  that  the  use 
oi  large  patterned  textures,  deep,  bold  relief  in  texture  is  cor¬ 
rect  onlv  on  the  walls  of  very  large  rooms,  on  architecture  of 
huge  scale.  Small  rooms  call  for  the  use  of  such  fine  and  delicate 
textures  as  are  noted  in  Figures  17  and  39. 

The  purpose  for  which  the  room  decorated  is  used,  the  style 
of  architecture,  the  personal  preferences  of  customers  all  have  a 
bearing  on  the  selection  of  both  textures  and  pattern.  There  are 
textures  which  are  strictly  formal  in  character  such  as  Italian 
Travertine  and  French  Caen  Stone  and  they  are  appropriate  for 
churches,  banks,  clubs,  libraries  and  railroad  stations  as  well  as 
for  the  more  pretentious  residences.  There  are  the  historically 
correct  Italian  plaster  and  Spanish  Palm  finish  which  particularly 
fit  modern  Spanish  and  Italian  architecture.  There  are  the  Old 
English,  Jacobean  and  similar  textures  which  are  especially  suit¬ 
able  for  American  Colonial,  English  Cottage,  English,  German 
and  Swedish  half-timber  and  stucco  types  of  houses.  For  the 
very  large  number  of  strictly  American  type  houses  of  square, 
low,  horizontal  plane  lines  and  rugged  scale  there  are  few  of  the 
medium  coarse  textures  which  do  not  look  well.  Then  there 
is  a  yery  large  number  of  novelty  textures  suitable  for  special 
purposes  such  as  theatres,  cafes,  tea  rooms,  business  shops,  whole¬ 
sale  showrooms,  Japanese  and  Chinese  rooms  anywhere.  All  types 
of  textures  considered,  Rufkote  puts  into  the  hands  of  decora¬ 
tors  the  means  to  develop  artistic  ideas  exactly  to  fit  all  sur¬ 
faces  in  color  and  form.  With  this  knowledge  there  is  no  need 
to  accept  any  machine  made,  monotonous  repeat  pattern  or  some 
standardized  decoration  —  individual  taste  and  architectural 
requirement  can  be  satisfied  with  Rufkote.  The  wish  for  bright 
and  lively  colors  on  walls  is  realized  with  Rufkote  because  the 
breaking  up  of  the  color  by  texture  and  the  shadows  cast  by 
relief  decoration  permit  the  use  of  color  values  and  intensities 
which  are  far  too  vivid  when  used  in  plain  paint  on  flat  surfaces. 
By  putting  the  color  in  Rufkote  the  cost  of  painting  is  saved, 
such  a  process  for  obtaining  color  elfects  which  are  bright  and 
full  of  life  yet  grayed  or  neturalized  sufficiently  to  be  livable  in 
daily  associations. 


[14] 


CHAPTER  III 
Surface  Preparation 

Tere  is  no  more  important  work  than  the  preparation  of 
surfaces  for  decorating  where  fine  finished  appearance  and 
durability  are  to  be  expected.  It  is  especially  important  that 
old  surfaces  which  have  been  decorated  with  infirm  materials  be 
properly  treated.  No  new  decorative  material,  however  good  the 
quality,  can  long  adhere  to  old  surfaces  which  crumble  away  or 
crack  and  scale  off.  Surfaces  expand  and  contract  with  tempera¬ 
ture  changes,  also  some  are  adversely  affected  by  dampness.  It  is 
obvious,  then,  that  new  decorative  coatings  cannot  be  durable 
and  satisfactory  unless  due  preparation  is  made  to  offer  the  new 
material  a  firm  anchorage  to  its  foundation. 

The  proper  preparation  of  a  wall  may  be  outlined  in  a  very 
few  words: 

First,  remove  any  finish  which  will  not  make  a  permanently 
solid  surface — cleaning  the  wall  well. 

Second,  fill  up  all  cracks  and  holes. 

Third,  size  the  wall. 

The  first  operation  is  necessary  to  secure  a  firm  foundation. 
Any  insecure  surface  must  be  removed  before  applying 
Rufkote;  among  these  are  calcimine,  whitewash,  gloss  oil,  scaly 
paint  or  wax.  It  is  not  necessary  to  remove  oil  or  flat  paint  if 
such  surface  is  firmly  bonded.  Directions  for  treating  such  a 
surface  are  given  later  in  this  Chapter  on  page  26. 

Wall  paper  and  fabrics  attached  by  paste  must  be  removed, 
for  there  is  danger  of  the  moisture  in  the  Rufkote  softening  the 
paste  and  allowing  the  entire  covering  to  loosen  from  the  wall. 
Methods  for  removing  such  coverings  are  given  on  page  24. 

Dirty  or  greasy  walls  must  be  thoroughly  washed  as  described 
on  page  24. 

Filling  Holes  and  Cracks  in  Walls 

After  a  wall  has  been  cleaned,  all  cracks  and  holes  must  be 


Fig.  7.  Rufkote  with  Relief  Ornament 
See  Page  92 


[15] 


repaired.  Clean  out  all  loose  plaster  from  such  places  until  the 
edges  all  around  are  firm.  Undercut  the  edges  so  that  the  filling 
will  be  in  the  form  of  an  inverted  wedge  or  keystone  and  will 
remain  more  firmly  in  place.  When  the  holes  are  more  than  two 
inches  wide  it  is  wise  to  drive  a  few  galvanized  shingle  nails  into 
the  lath,  setting  the  heads  below  the  surface.  The  nails  rein¬ 
force  the  large  fillings  and  hold  them  more  securely  in  place. 

Now  wet  the  edges  and  bottoms  of  all  holes  thoroughly  and 
fill  them  with  a  putty  made  of  Rufkote  powder  and  water. 
Press  this  putty  well  into  the  holes  and  smooth  it  off  to  a  straight 
and  even  surface  with  the  wall.  After  the  patches  are  thoroughly 
dried  out  sandpaper  them  if  necessary  to  bring  to  a  true  and 
even  surface  with  the  wall  before  proceeding  with  the  next 
operation. 

Sizing  the  Walls 

The  purpose  of  a  sizing  is  to  provide  a  surface  of  uniform 
suction  or  sufficient  tooth  to  hold  the  Rufkote  securely. 

A  priming  coat  of  flat  paint  may  be  necessary  over  some  sur¬ 
faces  to  prevent  swelling  or  warping  from  the  moisture  in  the 
Rufkote. 

Many  surfaces  such  as  unsized  white  plaster,  sandfinish  or 
brown  coat,  brick  and  concrete  are  so  absorbent  that  if  left 
unsized  will  act  as  a  blotter,  robbing  the  Rufkote  of  the  water 
necessary  to  produce  its  natural  hard  finish.  This  results  in  a 
soft  chalky  coating,  at  the  same  time  making  the  material  set 
so  quickly  that  there  is  not  sufficient  time  permitted  for  the 
proper  texturing. 

Other  surfaces  are  so  dense  and  smooth  that  they  do  not  pro¬ 
vide  proper  anchorage  for  holding  the  Rufkote.  Such  surfaces 
are  gloss  paint,  varnish,  enamel,  shellac  and  surfaces  of  metal  or 
other  hard  substance.  These  surfaces  must  be  primed  with  a 
material  which  will  present  a  rough  surface  of  proper  tooth  to 
hold  the  Rufkote  securely.  Good  paint  mixed  from  about 
one-quarter  oil  and  three-quarter  turpentine  and  having  a  little 
sand  in  it  is  good  for  this  purpose. 

Still  other  surfaces  such  as  raw  wood  and  wall  board  of  paper 
pulp  type  must  be  protected  from  the  moisture  in  the  Rufkote. 

Directions  for  Preparing  Size 

A  good  size  for  use  on  absorbent  surfaces  may  be  prepared 
by  first  making  up  a  good  glue  size.  To  this  is  added  two  quarts 
of  mixed  Rufkote  to  each  gallon  of  glue  size. 

Hard  or  glossy  surfaces  may  be  prepared  by  giving  them  a 
coat  of  paint  into  which  has  been  mixed  14  lb.  of  fine  sand  to 
the  gallon.  This  coating  dries  out  to  a  rough  finish  affording 
anchorage  for  the  Rufkote.  It  should  be  mixed  to  contain 
about  one-quarter  linseed  oil  and  three-quarters  turpentine  to  dry 
semi-flat. 


[16] 


French  Caen  Stinic 


'.  •  '  •  .  f  ■  A\ 


'n'  -'  > 


4 


\  f 


>• 


■■  V.’-:  ■  ■, 


[17] 


Fig.  8.  Showing  a  wall  sized  and  ready  for  Rufkoting 
In  this  case  plastic  relief  ornaments  have  been  fastened  to  the  wall  as  part  of  the  decoration. 


f  Wood  and  wall  board  of  the  paper  pulp  type  may  be  protected 
from  moisture  by  this  same  coat  of  paint  and  sand. 

Do  not  use  gloss  oil  or  cellulose  lacquer  as  a  size  under 
Rufkote.  Gloss  oil  forms  a  weak  film  which  cannot  be  depended 
upon  and  both  gloss  oil  and  lacquer  give  a  hard,  glassy  finish  — 
a  poor  anchorage  for  Rufkote. 

If  shellac  or  floor  varnish  is  used  as  a  size,  mix  in  Yz  lb.  fine 
sea  sand  to  the  gallon. 

Preparation  of  Various  Wall  Surfaces 

We  will  now  take  up  in  order  the  detailed  preparation  of 
various  wall  surfaces  commonly  encountered. 

New  Smooth  Plaster  Walls 

Dust  down  the  surface  and  scrape  off  any  rough  splashes  of 
plaster.  Cut  out  and  repair  all  holes  and  cracks  as  described  on 
page  16.  Give  a  coat  of  size  made  of  glue,  water  and  Rufkote 
(see  page  16)  and  allow  to  dry  thoroughly. 

When  finishing  hard  glazed  plaster,  Keene’s  Cement  and  Port¬ 
land  Cement  plaster  walls  which  appear  in  some  bathrooms  and 
kitchens,  it  is  best  to  scratch  the  hard  glaze  by  rubbing  in  both 
directions  with  No.  3  sandpaper  before  sizing.  This  cuts  the 
glazed  surface  enough  to  insure  proper  anchorage  for  the 
Rufkote  and  is  especially  recommended  when  heavy  relief  tex¬ 
ture  of  unusual  weight  is  to  be  used. 

Old  Smooth  Plaster  Walls 

Remove  any  wall  paper  or  fabric  already  on  the  wall  (see 
page  24). 

Wash  off  any  calcimine  which  may  be  present  (see  page  26). 

If  the  wall  is  coated  with  gloss  oil  or  if  the  paint  is  cracked 
and  scaling  such  coating  must  be  removed  as  described  on  page 
26. 

After  the  wall  has  been  cleaned  proceed  as  described  for  new 
smooth  plaster  walls. 

If  the  wall  is  painted  and  the  coating  has  a  firm  bond,  the 
paint  should  be  cleaned  of  any  grease  or  dirt  as  described  on 
page  24.  It  may  then  be  prepared  in  either  of  the  following 
ways: 

(a)  Sandpaper  the  wall  in  both  directions  with  No.  3  coarse 
paper  to  cut  through  the  paint.  Size  with  glue  and  Rufkote 
mixture  as  described  on  page  16. 

(b)  Where  the  sanding  is  objectionable,  give  the  wall  a  coat 
of  oil  paint  and  sand  as  described  on  page  16. 

Sand  Finish  or  Brown  Coat 

Surfaces  of  this  type  require  first  a  thorough  brushing  down 
with  a  stiff  broom  to  remove  the  loose  sand.  Next  fill  cracks  and 
holes  as  described  on  page  16,  then  size  with  glue  and  Rufkote 
mixture  as  described  on  page  16  and  allow  to  dry  thoroughly. 


[18] 


old  walls  of  this  type  if  painted  and  the  paint  is  firmly 
attached,  require  only  a  good  washing  to  remove  dust  and 
grease  before  patching  up  and  applying  Rufkote. 

When  the  wall  is  calcimined,  scrub  off  as  much  calcimine  as 


Fig.  9.  Rufkote  in  Hand  Molded  Dutch  Tile  Finish 

1191 


possible  with  hot  water  and  a  brush.  If  the  wall  is  absorbent 
after  such  washing,  give  a  coat  of  glue  and  Rufkote  size  mix¬ 
ture  (see  page  16)  before  applying  the  Rufkote. 

V.rick  Surfaces 

Interior  brick  surfaces  are  often  to  be  found  on  one  or  more 
walls  of  enclosed  sun  porches  and  sun  rooms.  As  a  rule  they 
constitute  an  element  which  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  decora¬ 
tive  scheme  and  it  is  desirable  for  the  sake  of  unity  to  decorate 
the  brick  surface  with  the  same  texture  and  coloring  as  the  other 
walls  of  the  room. 

The  first  operation  necessary  on  brick  surfaces  is  to  sweep 
them  off  with  a  stiff  broom  to  remove  dust,  loose  sand  and  mortar. 
Next  apply  a  coat  of  size  made  from  glue  and  water  and 
Rufkote  (see  page  16)  brushing  it  well  into  the  mortar  joints 
and  allowing  it  to  dry.  Now  brush  on  a  coat  of  Rufkote  with¬ 
out  texturing.  The  object  of  this  coat  is  to  fill  up  the  mortar 
joints  and  even  up  the  wall  surface.  When  this  coat  is  thor¬ 
oughly  dry  and  hard,  apply  glue  size  to  stop  its  suction  and 
after  the  size  coat  has  dried  apply  the  finishing  coat  of  Rufkote 
texturing  as  desired. 

Brick  surfaces  which  are  spotted  with  white  saltpeter  efflores¬ 
cence  or  with  mildew  must  be  thoroughly  scrubbed  clean  to 
remove  all  accumulations.  Mildew,  being  a  vegetable  fungus 
growth,  must  be  killed  with  a  coat  of  turpentine  for  mild  cases 
and  a  wash  of  water  in  which  a  strong  germicide  is  dissolved 
for  the  more  advanced  cases.  One  ounce  of  corrosive  sublimate 
(bichloride  of  mercury)  in  three  gallons  of  water  is  about  the 
correct  strength.  This  is  a  deadly  poison,  so  handle  it  with 
extreme  care.  Brush  it  on  freely  and  let  the  surface  dry  before 
proceeding  with  the  decoration.  The  test  to  make  certain  that 
mildew  is  present  consists  of  wetting  a  cloth  with  turpentine  and 
rubbing  the  dark  greenish  black  spots.  If  mildew  is  present  a 
greenish  stain  will  come  off  on  the  cloth.  Examination  of  mildew 
under  a  magnifying  glass  reveals  a  plant  like  formation. 

Concrete  Surfaces 

Interior  surfaces  of  cement  blocks  or  concrete  cast  in  forms, 
are  commonly  decorated  with  Rufkote  in  a  permanent  and 
artistic  manner.  The  first  operation  is  to  sweep  down  with  a 
stiff  broom  to  remove  all  loose  sand  and  dirl.  Knock  off  all 
ridges,  form  marks  and  fins.  Now  fill  all  holes,  cracks  and  low 
places  with  a  putty  made  of  dry  Rufkote  and  water  after 
wetting  such  places  thoroughly.  Force  the  putty  well  into  all 
such  openings  and  bring  to  a  smooth  and  level  surface  with  a 
broad  stopping  knife.  Allow  the  putty  to  set  hard  before  pro¬ 
ceeding  with  the  work.  Such  putty  adheres  more  firmly  to 
cement  surfaces  than  does  a  Portland  Cement  mixture  which 
has  a  tendency  to  turn  sandy  and  crumble  out. 

I  20] 


Cement  surfaces  which  are  a  few  months  old  are  usually 
ueutralized  by  contact  with  the  air,  but  new  surfaces  of  this 
kind  are  apt  to  have  hot  caustic  areas  which  should  be  neutral¬ 
ized  by  a  wash  coating  of  four  pounds  of  zinc  sulphate  in  a 
gallon  of  water  brushed  on  and  allowed  to  dry. 

Size  cement  surfaces  with  glue  and  Rufkote  mixture  (see 
page  16)  and  allow  to  dry  hard.  They  are  then  ready  for 
Rufkoting. 

Wall  Board  Surfaces 

The  beginning  of  a  first-class  decorating  job  over  wall  board 
of  various  types,  including  the  wood  fiber,  plaster  and  fiber,  and 
pressed  vegetable  fiber  forms,  is  in  the  hands  of  carpenter  and 
architect  long  before  the  decorator  arrives  on  the  scene.  Indif¬ 
ferent  work  by  the  carpenter  is  too  often  evident  and  that 
mechanic  passes  over  many  points  with  the  thought  that  the 
decorator  will  correct  and  cover  over  the  poor  work  done  in  the 
construction  of  the  walls.  Walls  covered  with  wall  board  should 
be  started  by  the  selection  of  studs  which  are  straight  and  true, 
properly  spaced  to  come  under  the  joints  of  the  wall  board.  A 
bridge  of  2  x  4  in.  or  2  x  2  in.  wood  should  be  placed  under  every 
joint  in  the  board  and  also  under  the  full  length  of  baseboard, 
plate  rail,  chair  rail,  picture  moulding  and  cornice.  There  is  no 
other  way  to  construct  permanently  tight  joints,  true  corners 
and  firm  walls  in  general. 

All  construction  materials  expand  and  contract  with  tem¬ 
perature  changes,  including  wood,  plaster,  brick  and  wall  board. 


Fig.  10. 
[21] 


Fig.  11. 


Some  types  of  wall  board  expand  and  contract  much  more  than 
do  others.  Probably  the  types  made  largely  with  plaster  core 
exhibit  less  movement  than  others.  Common  lime  plaster  walls 
in  their  movement  with  temperature  changes  distribute  the  ex¬ 
pansion  and  contraction  evenly  over  all  walls  without  a  break 
when  the  plaster  is  of  proper  strength.  Wall  board  surfaces 
simply  distribute  the  movement  over  each  sheet  of  board  and 
compensate  by  opening  up  the  joints.  No  putty  of  itself  is 
strong  enough  to  cement  the  pieces  of  wall  board  together  to 
force  an  even  distribution  of  movement  over  the  entire  wall 
area.  Consequently,  the  joints  break  unless  they  are  reinforced 
with  a  material  to  withstand  the  movement  and  distribute  it 
evenly. 

North  of  the  Ohio  River  this  reinforcing  of  wall  board  joints 
is  entirely  successful  when  properly  done.  The  correct  method 
for  the  decorator  to  follow  is  to  take  a  piece  of  No.  2  or  3  sand¬ 
paper,  wrap  it  around  a  block  of  wood  about  three  inches  wide. 
Place  a  long  straight  edge  about  1 14  in.  from  each  joint  and  run 
the  sandpaper  up  and  down  a  few  times  to  cut  into  the  surface 
of  the  wall  board.  Now  fill  the  joints  with  a  putty  made  of 
Rufkote  and  water.  Force  the  putty  tightly  into  place  with 
a  broad  scraping  knife.  While  this  putty  is  wet  cover  the  entire 
joint  with  a  three-inch  strip  of  Open  Mesh  Canvas.  (See  page 
23).  Pound  the  canvas  down  well  with  a  stiff  brush  and  smooth 
over  with  Rufkote  worked  out  to  a  feather  edge.  Note  Figures 
10,  11  and  12.  All  nails  should  be  set  and  nail  holes  filled  with 
Rufkote  putty. 


[22] 


South  of  the  Ohio  River  the  movement  of  wall  board  appears 
to  be  greater  and  the  permanent  sealing  of  wall  board  joints  has 
never  been  quite  as  successful  as  in  the  Northern  States,  due 
probably  to  extremes  of  heat  and  moisture  in  the  South.  One 
measure  which  has  been  tried  with  apparent  success  is  covering 
over  the  joints  with  galvanized  fly  screen  in  the  same  manner 
as  was  described  for  Open  Mesh  Canvas,  except  that  the  wire 
screen  is  tacked  firmly  in  place. 

If  the  wall  board  is  of  the  paper  pulp  type  it  must  be  pro¬ 
tected  from  the  moisture  in  the  Rufkote.  Give  it  a  coat  of 
paint  with  sand  in  it  as  described  on  page  16  before  Rufkoting. 

Mefal  Surfaces 

Steel  fire  doors,  partitions  and  similar  surfaces  found  in  in¬ 
teriors  are  often  unsightly  and  the  decorator  may  wish  to  run 
rough  wall  texture  over  such  surfaces  to  gain  unity  of  treat¬ 
ment.  The  first  requirement  is  that  such  surfaces  should  be 
cleaned  from  dust,  dirt,  rust  and  oil.  Apply  a  coat  of  paint  and 
sand  (see  page  16)  over  the  clean  metal  surface  and  allow  it  to 
dry  hard  before  Rufkoting  it. 

Wood  Surfaces 

Paint  all  new  wood,  trim  and  putty  the  joints  and  cracks 
before  applying  Rufkote  to  prevent  the  moisture  from  swelling 
the  wood.  Mix  sand  in  the  paint  to  give  proper  tooth  for  holding 
Rufkote. 

Joints  in  large  areas  of  woodwork  may  open  up  from  drying 


Fig.  12. 
r23d 


out,  cracking  any  Rufkote  applied  over  it.  The  safest  practice 
when  working  over  boarded  walls  is  to  first  cover  them  with  a 
good  wall  board  before  Rufkoting. 


Methods  for  Cleaning  Various  Wall  Surface 
Washing  Very  Dirty  Walls 

Plaster  walls  which  are  unusually  dirty,  coated  with  smoke, 
dirt  and  grease  accumulations,  are  occasionally  encountered. 
They  require  careful  washing  before  it  is  safe  to  decorate  with 
any  material.  One  good  way  to  do  the  washing  is  to  mix  up  a 
pail  of  hot  water,  a  little  soap,  sal  soda  and  glue  or  wall  paper 
paste.  Brush  this  mixture  on  with  a  calcimine  brush  and  follow 
after  a  few  minutes  by  rinsing  with  a  sponge  and  clean  warm 
water.  When  the  walls  are  extremely  greasy  it  is  necessary  to 
use  more  sal  soda  or  add  ammonia  to  the  mixture.  There  are 
paint  cleaner  preparations  of  a  proprietary  character  on  the 
market  which  are  good. 


Removing  Wall  Paper  and  Fabrics. 

The  quickest  and  least  costly  method  of  stripping  wall  paper 
is  that  employed  when  using  one  of  the  several  machines  now 
on  the  market.  Such  a  machine  consists  of  a  small  portable  boiler 
heated  by  gas  or  gasoline.  Steam  is  carried  to  a  metal  pan 
mounted  on  a  handle.  The  play  of  the  steam  under  the  pan  held 
against  the  wall  softens  up  the  paper  which  is  quickly  stripped 
off  with  a  broad  scraping  knife. 

The  older  hand  method  for  removing  wall  paper  consists  of 
wetting  the  paper  repeatedly  with  water  using  a  brush  or  sponge, 
then  scraping  with  a  broad  knife  or  wide  putty  knife.  The 
hand  scraper  is  also  a  handy  tool  for  this  work.  A  tank  and 
pump  speeds  the  work  by  making  it  easy  to  spray  the  paper  with 
water  without  dripping  it  over  the  floor  and  trim. 

Varnish  tile  papers  used  in  bathrooms  and  kitchens,  as  well  as 
wall  paper  of  the  Chinese,  antique  and  Colonial  types,  which 
are  varnished  to  yellow  their  color  and  make  them  washable,  are 
more  difficult  to  remove,  because  the  varnish  prevents  the  water 
from  soaking  off  the  paper  and  the  paste.  The  varnishing  of 
wall  papers  is  usually  done  by  first  sizing  with  glue  and  then 
coating  with  Damar  or  flat  varnish.  This  coating,  however,  is 
thin  and  not  difficult  to  cut  through.  One  method  is  to  take 
half  a  pail  of  flour  paste  mixed  little  thinner  than  usual,  add 
about  as  much  fine  sand  to  it  and  mix  well.  Tack  a  piece  of 
Brussels  carpet  over  a  2  x  4  wooden  block  about  ,six  inches  long. 
Dip  the  carpet  surface  into  the  sand  paste  mixture  and  scrub  the 
varnished  paper  with  it,  keeping  the  surface  wet.  This  will  cut 
through  the  varnish  and  paper  which  can  then  be  scraped  and 
washed  off  clean.  It  is  essential  to  remove  the  paste  on  the  wall  as 
well  as  the  paper. 

Fabrics  are  usually  removed  from  the  wall  by  wetting  with 


[241 


Roviau  Travertine  Texture 


Fig.  13 

Interior  of  Bank — a  magnificent  wall  effect  of  Roman  Travertine  was 
obtained  with  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone. 


t25J 


water  and  stripping  them  from  the  wall  one  length  at  a  time.  A 
corner  of  the  fabric  is  loosened  with  the  knife  and  from  this 
starting  point  the  entire  length  is  removed. 

Ke  moving  Calcimine  and  Gloss  Oil 

Smooth  plaster  coated  with  calcimine  should  be  washed  well  to 
remove  this  covering,  particularly  should  it  be  removed  from 
corners  and  places  close  to  the  wood  trim.  Warm  water  and  a 
good  sponge  will  remove  the  calcimine  and  the  glue  size  under 
it.  If  it  is  found  that  the  wall  has  been  sized  with  gloss  oil 
under  calcimine,  as  indicated  by  its  high  gloss  and  glassy  surface, 
wash  it  thoroughly  with  hot  water  in  which  considerable  sal  soda 
is  dissolved.  Scrub  with  No.  3  steel  wool  to  remove  as  much  of 
the  gloss  oil  as  possible.  Finally  sand  the  surface  both  ways  with 
No.  3  sandpaper  to  cut  through  the  gloss  oil. 

Removing  Cracked  and  Scaling  Paint 

Liquid  paint  and  varnish  removers  are  effective  for  this  work, 
but  a  bit  expensive  for  large  areas.  When  removers  are  used,  the 
surface  should  be  well  washed  with  benzine  to  remove  the  wax 
film  deposited  by  the  remover.  The  paint  burner  torch  is  em¬ 
ployed  to  some  extent  for  this  kind  of  work  and  is  safe  when 
used  with  care.  Sand  paper  and  knife  scrapers,  however,  are 
depended  upon  in  most  cases  when  stripping  off  old  paint. 

After  removal  of  old  paint  from  plaster  the  hard  glaze  is  usu¬ 
ally  cut  through  and  scraped  considerably.  Such  porous  places 
need  sealing.  A  coat  of  glue  and  Rufkote  mixture  as  described 
on  page  16  should  be  applied  to  even  up  the  suction  of  the  wall. 

Damp  Walls 

Plaster,  brick  and  cement  walls  which  are  continually  damp 
are  in  that  condition  as  a  rule  because  of  some  form  of  faulty 
construction.  Before  it  is  safe  to  decorate  with  any  material, 
except  some  of  the  special  cement  damp-proof  paints,  the  source 
of  moisture  should  be  stopped.  Such  sources  are  many;  some¬ 
times  leaking  roofs,  rusted  out  metal  flashings  over  windows  and 
doors,  leaking  plumbing  pipes,  damp  cellars  or  walls  placed  against 
dirt  embankments.  In  any  case  this  is  a  job  of  supplying  ventila¬ 
tion  and  stopping  the  source  of  trouble.  It  is  the  work  of  the 
mason  or  general  contractor  and  should  not  be  placed  upon  the 
decorator. 

Hanging  Open  Mesh  Canvas 

In  order  to  produce  the  very  best  kind  of  a  foundation  surface 
for  Rufkote  or  any  plastic  paint  it  is  best  to  cover  the  entire 
walls  of  smooth  or  sand  finish  plaster  or  wall  board  with 
Fabrikona  Open  Mesh  Canvas.  This  is  also  done  on  decorating 
jobs  where  there  is  a  possibility  that  in  later  years  the  rough 
texture  is  to  be  removed  to  return  to  smooth  forms  of  decoration. 

Fabrikona  Open  Mesh  Canvas  is  preshrunk  canvas  without 

[26] 


Fig.  14. 

Rufkote  Applied  Over  Open  Mesh  Canvas 

filling  made  of  woven  two-ply  yarn  of  exceptional  tensile 
strength.  Its  cost  is  low  and  it  can  be  used  on  large  areas  with 
economy  for  strengthening  surfaces  to  better  resist  damage  and 
marring.  It  hides  completely  the  small  cracks  in  bad  plaster  and 
also  all  fillings,  cracks  and  other  imperfections.  The  mesh  of  this 
canvas  is  sufficiently  open  to  enable  Rufkote  to  penetrate 
through  and  anchor  on  the  plaster  surface,  yet  should  a  change 
of  decorative  treatment  be  desired  the  canvas  can  be  stripped  off, 
bringing  with  it  all  the  plastic  rough  texture  decoration  without 
injury  to  the  plaster. 

Open  Mesh  Canvas  is  put  up  in  rolls  5  0  yards  long  and  36 
inches  wide.  It  is  much  used  over  walls  to  be  painted  with  oil 
paints  in  the  ordinary  manner  and  affords  a  very  interesting  pat¬ 
tern  to  smooth  walls  in  addition  to  giving  them  greater  strength 
and  uniformity. 

The  hanging  of  Fabrikona  Open  Mesh  Canvas  is  an  easy  accom¬ 
plishment.  New  walls,  smooth  or  sand  finish,  should  be  cleaned, 
patched  where  needed  and  glue  sized  as  indicated  in  the  first  sec- 
I  tion  of  this  chapter.  Old  surfaces  should  be  cleaned,  patched 
I  where  needed  and  made  as  smooth  as  possible.  Then  they  should 
j  be  sized  as  previously  indicated. 

j  Trim  this  Open  Mesh  Canvas  to  a  straight  and  true  edge  with 
I  straightedge  and  sharp  knife,  or  by  marking  with  a  pencil  and 
j  cutting  true  with  paperhangers’  shears.  Apply  a  heavy  paste  to 
the  wall  and  then  hang  the  canvas  dry  over  the  wet  paste. 
Smooth  it  out  with  the  brush  and  butt  the  joints  well. 

Suitable  paste  for  this  canvas  is  made  from  the  best  quality  of 
wheat  flour.  Place  the  flour  in  a  pail  containing  a  little  cold  water 
and  mix  well  with  your  hand  to  break  up  all  lumps.  Then  pour 
on  boiling  water.  Cover  the  paste  and  let  it  cook.  After  an 
hour  or  so  thin  to  heavy  brushing  consistency  with  cold  water. 
While  the  paste  is  hot  add  about  1  cupful  of  molasses  and  mix 
it  well  into  the  paste.  This  to  make  a  stronger  adhesive  paste. 
Some  decorators  prefer  to  add  about  a  tablespoonful  of  Venice 
turpentine. 


127] 


CHAPTER  IV 


Mixing  Rufkote  and  the  Addition  of  Color 

Rufkote  is  marketed  in  dry  powder  form  which  is  pure  white. 

This  is  mixed  in  the  proportion  of  two  parts  of  powder  by 
volume  to  one  part  of  cold  water  and  is  immediately  ready  for 
use. 

To  make  one  gallon  of  the  mixture  add  five  quarts  (10 
pounds)  powdered  Rufkote  to  two  and  one-half  (2^2)  quarts 
cold  water  and  stir  well.  This  may  be  thinned  down  with  cold 
water  if  a  mixture  thinner  than  usual  is  desired. 

Mix  sufficient  Rufkote  at  one  time  for  a  day’s  work.  Rufkote 
should  be  used  when  freshly  mixed  but  may  be  held  over  night 
after  mixing  by  thinning  the  mixture  down  with  an  equal 
amount  of  cold  water  and  stirring  well.  It  is  not  sufficient  to 
pour  the  extra  water  on  top  of  the  Rufkote.  It  must  be  mixed. 
This  extra  water  separates  out  upon  standing  and  is  poured  ofi 
before  again  using  the  mixture. 

Mixing  Color  with  Rufkote 

Rufkote,  when  uncolored,  drys  out  to  a  clear  white.  On  this 
white  ground  many  interesting  colored  finishes  are  done  by  coat¬ 
ing  with  glaze  stains  as  described  in  Chapter  VII.  Where  a  col¬ 
ored  material  is  desired  the  mixed  Rufkote  may  be  tinted  with 
dry  color  or  color  ground  in  oil. 

To  color  the  mixed  Rufkote  take  one  or  two  quarts  of  the 
mixed  Rufkote  and  into  this  thoroughly  mix  the  color,  work¬ 
ing  out  all  lumps  and  straining  through  wire  netting  if  necessary. 
This  mixture  is  then  stirred  into  the  white  Rufkote  to  obtain 
the  desired  color. 

The  colored  Rufkote  is  much  darker  in  shade  when  wet  than 
when  dry  and  care  should  be  taken  to  allow  for  this. 

When  mixing  colored  Rufkote  always  provide  enough  mate¬ 
rial  for  an  entire  ceiling  or  wall  in  one  mixing  to  avoid  variation 
in  shade.  Care  should  be  used  to  measure  the  amount  of  color 
used  in  a  batch  in  order  to  duplicate  the  shade  in  case  additional 
material  is  required. 

Substantially  any  of  the  suitable  color  tints  and  shades  for 
interior  decoration  may  be  produced  with  Rufkote. 


CHAPTER  V 
Application  of  Rufkote 

After  getting  the  surface  ready  as  directed  in  previous  chap¬ 
ters  on  sizing  and  surface  preparation,  mix  the  Rufkote 
as  noted  in  Chapter  IV,  colored  to  suit.  The  application 
of  the  coating  to  the  wall  may  be  done  by  means  of  any  of  the 
brushes  shown  in  the  illustration.  Figure  16.  These  brushes  are 


Fig.  15.  Rufkote  being  applied. 
[29] 


the  most  commonly  used  tools  for  this  purpose,  especially  the 
Dutch  calcimine  brush.  But  certain  textures  are  just  as  well 
started  by  applying  the  Rufkote  with  a  sponge,  while  others 
are  better  done  by  the  use  of  a  square  plasterer’s  trowel  or  a 
bricklayer’s  trowel.  In  the  descriptions  of  various  textures  found 
in  Chapter  VI,  the  proper  tools  are  suggested  for  each  finish. 

The  most  important  point  about  putting  Rufkote  or  any 
other  decorative  coating  on  to  a  surface  is  to  so  brush  it  as  to 
gain  intimate  contact.  Most  surfaces  contain  minute  pores  or 
open  cells  filled  with  air  and  when  a  coating  is  placed  over 
them  the  material  should  be  worked  enough  by  pressure  from 
the  brush  or  other  tool  to  force  this  air  out  and  the  material 
into  the  cells.  There  is  also  a  matter  of  surface  tension  possessed 
by  all  substances  to  be  overcome  by  brushing  out  well  the  new 
coatings.  Consequently,  the  first  brushfulls  of  Rufkote  should 
be  spread  out  rather  than  over  the  surface  and  forced  into  in¬ 
timate  contact  with  it.  Then  the  following  applications  can 
be  spread  as  thick  as  wanted  to  produce  the  texture  in  mind. 

The  thickness  of  the  Rufkote  application  put  on  is  governed 
by  the  roughness  or  ruggedness  of  the  texture  to  be  produced. 
Most  of  the  textures  used  are  obtained  by  spreading  Rufkote 
on  to  a  depth  of  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  or  less.  The  more 
rugged  textures  like  the  large  brush  swirls,  Spanish  palm  finish 
and  all  patterns  which  aim  to  pile  up  Rufkote  to  a  depth  of 
about  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in  places,  but  thinner  over  the 
surface  generally,  call  for  an  initial  application  of  more  than 
one-eighth  inch  of  Rufkote.  The  best  way  to  handle  such 
heavy  application  is  to  do  it  in  two  stages.  Apply  about  one- 
eighth  inch  of  the  material  over  a  fairly  large  area,  allow  it  to 
set  a  few  minutes  and  then  apply  as  much  more  as  is  needed. 
If  the  full  amount  is  applied  immediately  the  weight  of  the 
material  while  it  is  so  wet  sometimes  causes  it  to  slough  off.  In 
cases  where  Rufkote  is  being  applied  over  brick  walls  to  com¬ 
pletely  hide  the  mortar  joints  it  is  best  to  apply  one  fairly  thick 
coating,  forcing  it  well  into  the  joints,  stipple  the  whole  surface 
and  let  it  dry  over  night  before  completing  the  texture.  Next 
day  size  and  then  when  dry  apply  more  Rufkote  and  proceed 
to  texture  it  as  on  a  plaster  wall. 

After  the  application  of  the  required  amount  of  Rufkote  to 
a  surface  it  is  well  to  distribute  it  fairly  well  with  the  tool  to 
make  a  rather  uniform  thickness  of  material  over  the  whole  sur¬ 
face  before  working  in  the  texture. 

During  the  application  there  is  a  tendency  to  apply  too  much 
material  in  the  corners  and  up  against  window  and  door  casings. 
Even  when  only  the  normal  thickness  is  applied  at  first  at  these 
points  the  texturing  tools  crowd  more  plastic  on  than  should 
remain.  Walls  expand  and  contract  with  temperature  changes. 
When  plaster  and  decorative  coatings  are  uniformly  thick  this 
movement  is  evenly  distributed  and  no  breaking  of  the  surface 


130] 


<u 

tX) 

W 


&£) 


CS 


Xi 

3 

u 

v 

3 


c« 

O 

% 

m 


3 

C3 

CT!  CD 


C3 

-3 

u 

3 

Q 


J4 

O 


3 

O 

o 

Ck 

CD 


bC  cc 

3  3 


V 


CS 


X  X 

2  O  « 

3  fc-  "I 

jg  H  ft- 

fQ  3 

V 


OJ 

X  "o 

-  J 

£  H 

fl  bC 

V  3 

s  ^ 

o  03 


CS 

H 


Ui 

» 


3 

CS 

e 

bC 

3 

CS 

Ui 


o 

o 

4-> 

<u 

u 


X 

!n 

3 

ii 

n 

b£ 

3 


CS 


.J3 

tc 

3 

b< 

P3 


-G  ^ 

PQ  I  2  P  ^  .2  _0  "C  i 

hi 

S  H 

“  «  w 

^  1  I  I 


s 

o 

u 


bC 


a 

a 

CD 


•  1-4  h 


CS  « 


^-IC^OO•^lO^^^COO^Ol-H<^^f0^lO'0 


[31  J 


Fig.  16. 


is  apt  to  occur,  but  when  too  much  plastic  is  allowed  to  accu¬ 
mulate  in  corners  of  side  walls  and  where  the  walls  join,  the 
ceiling  cracks  may  occur  at  these  points  where  the  expansion 
movement  of  the  two  walls  is  equalized.  Have  only  the  same 
thickness  of  Rufkote  in  the  corners  as  elsewhere  on  the  surface 
and  no  trouble  will  be  encountered. 

The  coating  and  texturing  of  very  large  walls  and  ceilings 
with  any  decorative  material  is  usually  done  better  by  working 
two  or  three  men  on  the  surface  at  the  same  time.  Let  one  man 
start  coating  in  the  first  stretch,  then  the  second  man  can  start 
coating  in  the  second  stretch  when  the  first  man  has  about  half 
finished.  The  third  man,  if  present,  can  start  stippling  or  dis¬ 
tributing  the  Rufkote  to  an  even  thickness  over  the  surface. 
In  this  manner  of  working  two  or  three  men  will  do  more  and 
better  work  in  a  day  and  the  texturing  will  be  more  uniform  as 
a  rule  if  there  is  good  teamwork,  because  the  material  is  worked 
into  the  texture  at  just  the  right  time. 

The  temperature  and  ventilation  of  a  room  in  which  decorat¬ 
ing  materials  are  being  applied  determine  largely  the  rate  of  set¬ 
ting.  In  the  application  of  Rufkote  the  temperature  should  be 
normal  room  heat  and  never  below  freezing.  Ventilation  should 
be  only  moderate  until  after  the  texturing  has  been  completed, 
then  it  may  be  increased  and  the  drying  of  the  coating  will  be 
hastened  thereby. 

Floors  and  cabinet  work  in  rooms  being  decorated  with 
Rufkote  should  be  protected  with  drop  cloths.  Standing  wood 
trim  should  be  watched  carefully  in  order  to  wipe  off  immedi¬ 
ately  any  splashes  of  Rufkote  dropped  on  such  surfaces,  not 
that  Rufkote  will  discolor  the  trim  finish  but  that  after  drying 
it  is  not  so  easy  to  wipe  off.  While  fresh  it  wipes  off  clean  and 
easily.  Be  sure  to  use  clean  water  and  a  clean  sponge  especially  on 
door  and  wall  panels. 

T exture  Making  T ools 

The  tools  used  for  forming  the  textures  in  Rufkote  are 
numerous,  as  may  be  noted  from  the  illustration  on  page  31. 
The  most  simple  texture  and  the  one  easiest  to  produce  is  done 
with  a  regular  wall  stippling  brush.  Figure  39.  This  tool,  used 
like  a  hammer  to  pound  the  wet  Rufkote,  produces  a  series  of 
pores  or  pits.  This  simple  stipple  finish  makes  a  quietly  interesting 
surface  done  either  in  a  single  color  with  tinted  Rufkote  or  in 
two-tone  effect  by  glazing  over  with  Rufkote. 

Some  of  the  other  tools  useful  in  this  modeling  or  texturing 
of  Rufkote  are  the  palm  of  the  hand,  combinations  of  brush 
work  and  finger  modelling;  the  flat  wall  brush,  the  oval  paint 
or  varnish  brush,  steel  wire  brush,  calcimine  brush,  whiskbroom, 
ordinary  haircomb  with  coarse  teeth,  square  plasterer’s  trowel, 
bricklayer’s  trowel,  common  sheepswool  sponge,  rubber  sponge, 


['32  ] ' 


long  knife  spatula,  steel  grainer’s  comb,  wad  of  crumpled  news¬ 
paper  and  any  other  tool  that  can  be  effectively  manipulated. 
After  a  texture  is  completed  and  while  Rufkote  is  still  soft 
the  high  points  of  the  pattern  are  often  smoothed  down  a  little 
by  lightly  drawing  the  edge  of  a  celluoid  drawing  triangle  over 
the  surface.  Two  or  more  tools  are  sometimes  used  one  after 
the  other  in  producing  some  of  the  textures.  Sandpaper,  No.  Yi 
or  No.  1  is  used  on  some  of  the  textures  after  the  Rufkote  is 
dry  and  glaze-stained  to  cuff  off  the  high  points  of  the  texture 
and  reveal  the  color  of  the  undercoat.  Wrap  the  sandpaper  around 
a  block  of  wood  to  do  this  task  most  effectively. 

The  manipulation  of  the  various  tools  is  described  in  Chapter 
VI,  where  the  textures  are  discussed  and  illustrated. 

How  to  Use  Rufkote  with  Color 

Considering  color  effects  Rufkote  is  applied  in  two  ways: 
(1)  in  its  natural  white  form.  To  finish  it  a  glaze  is  applied  and 
wiped  and  sometimes  sandpapered.  Note  the  glazing  methods 
described  in  Chapter  VII.  (2)  Rufkote  is  tinted  with  colors 
ground  in  oil  or  dry  colors  to  any  hue  wanted.  When  dry,  the 
colored  Rufkote  should  be  sized  and  finished  with  a  coat  of 
shellac,  paint  or  lacquer  if  a  waterproof  surface  is  desired. 


Fig.  17.  Glazing  and  wiping 
[33] 


CHAPTER  VI 


Producing  the  T exture  Patterns 

There  are  far  too  many  textures  available  to  be  able  to 
describe  more  than  a  few  of  the  most  useful  and  commonly 
accepted.  One  no  sooner  acquires  facility  in  this  form  of 
decoration,  however,  than  he  begins  to  develop  textures  suitable 
for  particular  purposes.  A  little  imagination  and  ingenuity  will 
produce  a  surprising  variety  of  finishes,  both  of  the  conventional 
and  novel  types.  In  fact,  that  is  one  of  the  outstanding  virtues 
of  this  mode  of  decoration — the  decorator  starting  in  on  this 
medium  of  expression  immediately  finds  a  wealth  of  textural 
effects  at  his  command  which  he  can  do  with  little  practise,  yet 
the  man  with  ideas  of  his  own  has  a  freedom  of  expression  in 
Rufkote  which  is  equal  to  every  demand  of  an  artistic  nature 
and  which  enables  him  to  provide  distinctly  individual  finishes 
to  suit  his  schemes  of  decoration. 

Before  getting  into  the  production  of  textures  there  is  one 
idea  which  should  be  tucked  away  firmly  in  mind  and  that  is  the 
fact  that  before  success  can  be  gained  in  producing  any  texture 
the  finished  effect  must  be  visualized.  Without  having  in  mind 
a  fairly  definite  picture  of  what  is  wanted,  the  tool  will  wander 
about  aimlessly  and  artlessly;  the  result  is  apt  to  be  a  poor  tex¬ 
ture,  merely  an  uninteresting  scratching  of  the  surface.  Obvi¬ 
ously,  in  the  development  of  new  textures  it  is  best  to  work  out 
ideas  on  pieces  of  wall  board  or  similar  material  a  yard  or  two  in 
area.  That  will  determine  textures,  colors,  tools  and  the  order 
in  which  the  various  operations  ought  to  come. 


Fig.  18. 
[34] 


Rugged  Textures  for  Large  Rooms 

Large  Living  Rooms,  Theatres,  Automobile  Sales 
Rooms,  Public  Halls,  Restaurants,  etc. 

The  problem  in  rooms  of  large  scale  and  with  high  or  low 
ceilings  is  to  employ  textures  which  are  neither  too  large,  rugged 
and  strong  in  display  nor  too  small  and  insignificant  in  relation 
to  room  size,  architectural  trim  proportions  and  large  furniture. 
Not  only  the  size  and  ruggedness  of  texture  must  be  in  proportion 
but  the  fitness  of  the  color  employed  must  likewise  be  in  balance. 
In  large  rooms,  fairly  strong  color  values  and  masses  are  needed, 
but  of  course,  the  decorator  must  ever  keep  in  mind  that  in  most 
instances  the  walls  and  ceiling  are  but  the  background  for  the 
display  of  furniture  and  consequently  texture  and  color  should 
not  be  too  pronounced  and  insistent  upon  attention.  The  walls 
are  rarely  the  focal  point  to  be  emphasized  in  rooms. 


Fig.  19. 

[35  ] 


Two-Tone  Scroll  Texture 

Tools  Needed  Materials  Needed 

Large  Round  Paint  Brush,  or  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush  Colors  in  Oil  or  Dry 

Wiping  Rags  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 

There  is  a  freedom  and  easy  grace  about  this  texture  even 
though  it  is  large  and  rugged.  The  degree  of  ruggedness  is  within 
the  decorator’s  control  simply  by  making  the  scrolls  larger  or 
smaller  to  be  exactly  in  keeping  with  the  massiveness  of  the 
architectural  trim  of  wood  or  stone  and  the  size  of  the  room. 
A  fairly  large  execution  of  this  texture  is  shown  in  Figure  20. 
In  the  wall  photographed  the  scrolls  average  about  eight  inches 
in  diameter  and  the  greatest  depth  of  Rufkote  on  the  high 
points  is  about  one-half  inch. 

To  produce  this  texture  apply  Rufkote,  brushing  it  well  into 
firm  contact  with  the  v/all.  Coat  in  about  one  hundred  square 
feet.  By  the  time  this  first  stretch  is  finished,  it  will  have  set 
enough  to  allow  a  second  coat  to  be  spread  to  gain  the  necessary 
depth  of  material.  This  second  coating  should  cover  a  stretch 
only  about  a  yard  wide.  The  material  may  be  applied  either 
with  an  ordinary  flat  wall  brush  or  a  Dutch  calcimine  brush. 
The  texture  is  best  worked  in  with  a  large  round  paint  or  var¬ 
nish  brush.  Produce  the  scroll  effect  by  working  continuously 
in  one  circular  direction  to  complete  each  scroll.  Lift  the  brush 
and  start  the  second  scroll  in  the  same  direction,  but  not  imme¬ 
diately  opposite  the  first.  Do  not  form  the  scrolls  in  a  continu¬ 
ous  line,  as  that  will  give  a  mechanical  and  monotonous  texture. 
Some  of  the  scrolls  can  be  done  in  the  reverse  direction.  Once 
a  scroll  is  started  complete  it  and  at  the  end  give  the  brush  a 
little  twist  at  the  same  time  lifting  it  off  the  wall.  That  pulls 
the  Rufkote  up  to  a  nice  finish.  The  high  points  in  the  texture 
are  made  by  letting  the  brush  plough  up  some  of  the  Rufkote. 
It  is  a  good  plan  to  avoid  working  over  each  area  textured  more 
than  once.  Generally  speaking  the  more  you  work  over  a  scroll 
the  worse  it  gets,  because  it  then  becomes  too  much  of  a  con¬ 
scious  effort,  whereas  the  carefree,  sort  of  carelessly  careful 
brushing  habit  makes  the  most  interesting  texture. 

The  Rufkote  may  be  put  on  in  its  natural  white  color  or 
may  be  tinted  any  light  color,  depending  upon  the  finished  color 
tones  wanted.  The  color  of  the  Rufkote  will  show  through  the 
finished  texture  and  generally  influences  the  finished  color  con¬ 
siderably.  The  finished  color  is  gained  by  letting  the  Rufkote 
dry  hard  over  night  after  the  texture  has  been  worked  in.  A 
coat  of  glue  size  is  then  applied  and  allowed  to  dry.  Now  apply 
a  Rufkote  glaze  as  per  directions  noted  in  Chapter  VII. 

After  the  glaze  coat  has  been  spread  over  the  whole  wall  with 
a  flat  wall  brush  or  calcimine  brush,  take  a  large  wad  of  clean 
cloth  and  wipe  off  the  color  from  the  high  points  of  the  texture 
to  give  an  interesting  two-tone  finish. 


[36] 


Fig.  20. 


Two-Tone  Scroll  Texture 


Tree  Bark  T exhire 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush 
Wall  Stippling  Brush 
Long  Knife  Spatula,  or 
Celluoid  Triangle 


Materials  Needed 
Tinting  Colors 
Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Glue  Size 

/  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


A  very  easy  texture  and  one  which  has  many  uses.  It  is  par¬ 
ticularly  fitting  for  rooms  with  low  ceilings  because  it  apparently 
increases  the  height  of  the  ceiling  and  size  of  the  room. 

This  texture  shown  in  Figure  21  may  be  done  in  any  color. 
The  wall  from  which  the  illustration  was  made  has  an  ivory 
undertone  and  a  dark  brown  in  the  pockets  of  the  finish.  The 
Rufkote  was  tinted  a  very  little  with  raw  sienna. 

To  produce  the  Tree  Bark  Texture  mix  and  apply  the  Rufkote 
in  the  usual  manner  as  directed  in  Chapters  IV  and  V.  Apply 
about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  of  Rufkote  or  more  as  wanted  and 
then  stipple  the  surface  with  the  wall  stippling  brush.  Stipple 
as  soon  as  the  Rufkote  has  been  roughly  spread  over  the  surface 
in  order  to  make  as  rough  a  stipple  pattern  as  possible.  Then 
let  the  coating  set  for  a  few  minutes,  just  enough  to  get  a  little 
stiff. 

Before  the  stippled  coating  gets  very  hard  take  a  long  knife 
spatula  or  a  celluloid  triangle  and  draw  it  over  the  surface  in 
vertical  streaks  from  top  to  bottom  only,  never  across  from 
left  to  right.  Draw  these  flattened  streaks  about  four  or  six 
inches  apart,  as  pleases  you  most.  After  smoothing  until  it 
closely  resembles  the  tree  bark  effect  let  it  dry  hard  over  night. 
Next  day  coat  with  glue  size  and  allow  to  dry. 

The  final  operation  is  to  apply  a  glaze  stain  coat  of  burnt 
umber  mixed  with  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  and  brush  over  the 
whole  surface.  Wipe  it  off  again  in  a  few  minutes,  leaving  the 
dark  color  only  in  the  pockets  or  crevices.  When  the  glaze  is 
dry  the  job  is  finished. 

In  this  texture  it  is  best  to  start  at  the  top  of  the  wall  and 
carry  down  a  stretch  about  a  yard  wide. 


[38] 


i 


pliSi 


Fig.  21. 

Tree  Bark  Texture 


[39] 


The  Stipple  and  Smooth  Texture 

Tools  Needed  Materials  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Flat  Wall  Brush  Tinting  Colors,  Dry  or  Oil 

Wall  Stipple  Brush  Sand,  Dry  Color,  Smalts 

Here  is  a  texture  which  has  a  wide  range  of  uses,  being  rough 
enough  for  large,  medium  and  small  size  rooms.  It  is  colorful, 
interesting  and  in  conservative  taste  for  average  homes  and  pub¬ 
lic  buildings.  Added  to  those  desirable  qualities  is  the  fact 
that  this  is  a  very  easy  texture  to  produce. 

The  first  step  in  the  working  method  consists  of  brushing 
Rufkote  over  the  surface  as  usual  in  a  thin  film  to  gain  good 
contact.  Then  more  material  is  applied  to  a  thickness  of  about 
one-eighth  of  an  inch.  While  wet  it  is  stippled  evenly  with  a 
wall  stippling  brush.  Then  color  is  blown  on  to  the  wet 
Rufkote  either  by  placing  it  on  a  small  piece  of  cardboard  and 
blowing  it  on  in  clouds  with  the  mouth  or,  better  yet  for  large 
surfaces,  blowing  it  on  with  a  bellows  sander  made  for  such 
purposes.  It  is  pictured  in  Figure  22.  The  coloring 
matter  is  dry  and  may  consist  of  a  mixture  of  very  dry,  fine  sand 
and  dry  color  or  it  may  be  colored  sign-painters’  smalts.  After 
blowing  the  color  on  in  clouds  here  and  there  the  texture  is 
smoothed  down  with  a  celluloid  triangle  such  as  is  used  for 
mechanical  drawing,  or  a  long  black  spatula  knife  may  be  used  to 
smooth  the  texture.  The  tool  may  be  worked  in  a  continuous 
circular  manner  progressing  over  the  surface  or  it  may  be  worked 
alternately,  first  in  one  direction  and  then  another. 

When  the  smoothed  areas  are  comparatively  small  this  texture 
presents  a  light,  delicate  lace  effect,  but  when  the  smoothed  areas 
are  large  and  coloring  strong  the  texture  resulting  has  a  close 
resemblance  to  marble  surfaces.  For  waterproofing  this  surface 
see  page  3  3. 


Fig.  22. 
r4oi 


Fig.  23. 


T he  Stipple  and 


Smooth  Texture 


! 

Aged  Rock  Texture 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush 
Wiretooth  Hair  Brush 
Bellows  Sander 
Long  Spatula  Knife,  or 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Dry  Color  (Burnt  Umber) 
Sand,  Fine,  Dry 
Raw  Sienna 


Celluoid  Triangle 


This  unusual  texture  looks  very  like  the  weatherbeaten  side  of 
a  rock  cliff  worn  threadbare  by  the  erosion  of  rain,  wind,  sun 
and  snow.  It  is  esssentially  a  rather  formal  treatment  suitable 
for  large  rooms  and  moderately  large  rooms.  It  would  naturally 
be  used  wherever  marble  is  suitable  in  all  types  of  buildings. 
The  colors  may  be  any  which  are  naturally  found  in  such  rock 
formations  and  to  fit  the  color  scheme  at  hand.  The  wall  from 
which  the  illustrations  were  made  has  a  brown  and  cream  tone. 
The  Rufkote  was  tinted  with  raw  sienna  and  the  second  color 
was  burnt  umber.  The  manipulation  of  the  texture  gives  all 
shades  of  these  colors  in  a  very  interesting  formation. 

To  produce  this  texture  shown  completely  in  Figure  24  and 
in  the  three  stages  or  operations  required  in  Figure  2  5,  start  by 
mixing  the  Rufkote  to  a  light  ivory  color  by  the  addition  of  a 
little  raw  sienna.  Apply  the  color  to  the  surface  as  usual  with 
the  Dutch  calcimine  brush  or  four-inch  flat  wall  brush,  spread 
it  out  well  to  gain  good  contact  with  the  old  surface.  Start 
the  texturing  in  a  few  minutes  as  soon  as  the  Rufkote  has  set 
enough  to  avoid  being  sticky.  Start  by  taking  an  ordinary 
wiretooth  hair  brush  or  metal  comb  and  drawing  it  across  the 
full  width  of  the  wall  which,  by  the  way,  should  be  coated-in 


Fic.  24. 
■  [42] 


Fig.  25. 


with  horizontal  stretches  for  this  texture  instead  of  the  usual 
vertical  application  from  top  to  bottom.  The  top  stretch  across 
the  wall  should  be  finished  first  so  that  the  Rufkote  of  the 
second  and  succeeding  stretches  will  not  be  splashed  down  over 
a  completed  area.  Draw  the  hair  brush  across  the  whole  wall 
from  corner  to  corner,  stopping  every  yard  or  two  to  clean  off 
the  accumulation  of  material  which  clogs  the  wire  teeth  of  the 
brush.  Completing  the  horizontal  stripes  blow  on  the  dry  color, 
burnt  umber  for  a  brown  tone.  The  best  way  to  handle  this  for 
large  walls  is  to  mix  the  dry  color  with  very  dry  and  uniformly 
fine  beach  sand  and  place  it  in  a  hand  bellows  sander,  or  the  sand 
and  color  may  be  placed  on  a  piece  of  cardboard  and  blown  on  to 
the  surface.  This  color  should  be  applied  in  clouds  of  irregular 
size  while  the  Rufkote  is  wet. 

The  operation  to  perform  next  is  that  of  smoothing  off  the 
surface  by  the  use  of  a  long  knife  spatula  or  a  celluloid  drafts¬ 
man’s  triangle  as  noted  in  Figure  24.  Draw  the  tool  across  the 
wall  only  in  a  horizontal  direction  and  it  is  well  to  smooth  some 
streaks  more  by  pushing  harder  on  the  tool.  This  will  eliminate 
the  deep  marks  of  the  hairbrush  in  places  but  these  marks  should 
show  generally  in  the  texture. 

Repeat  these  three  operations  on  the  next  stretch  below  until 
the  wall  has  been  completely  textured.  It  is  well  to  carry 
stretches  only  about  a  yard  high  across  the  wall.  Protect  the 
finished  texture  as  described  on.  page  3  3. 

[43] 


Multi-Color  Scroll  Texture 


Tools  Needed  Materials  Needed 

Round  Paint  Brush,  Large  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Several  Colors 

The  method  used  in  producing  this  very  attractive  neutral 
colored  texture  is  identical  in  its  first  steps  with  that  required 
for  doing  the  Two- tone  Scroll  described  on  page  3  6. 

Mix  up  three  or  more  batches  of  Rufkote  as  usual  after  the 
manner  outlined  in  Chapter  IV.  Make  each  batch  a  different 
color  by  adding  colors  to  it.  Start  the  texture  by  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  one  color  to  the  whole  surface  to  gain  good  contact. 
Then  start  the  first  scroll  with  one  color.  Use  another  color  for 
the  next  and  the  third  color  next.  In  working  in  the  texture 
these  colors  wifi  become  blended  together  considerably,  yet  not 
mixed  together  to  change  the  hues,  unless  you  brush  over  the 
texture  too  much.  That  is  all  there  is  to  it  except  to  allow  the 
finish  to  dry.  Of  course,  the  texture  may  be  made  very  coarse 
and  rugged  by  using  a  thick  application  of  Rufkote  and  large 
scrolls.  Using  a  thinner  application  and  smaller  scrolls,  modernly 
rugged  textures  suitable  for  smaller  rooms  result.  Note  Figure 
26.  Protect  the  finished  texture  as  described  on  page  33. 


Fig.  26. 
U41 


Fig.  27. 


Lattice  and  Scroll  Texture 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush 
Round  Paint  Brush,  Large 
Marking  Tool 
Straightedge 
Chalkline 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Tinting  Colors 
Glue  Size 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


In  this  decorative  texture  we  have  one  which  is  appropriate  for 
lower  wall  or  dado  treatment  in  restaurant,  theatre,  or  other 
rooms  where  a  rather  showy  unusual  finish  is  wanted.  Figure  27. 

This  texture  is  started  following  nearly  the  same  method  as 
was  described  for  the  Two-Tone  Scroll  Texture.  After  the 
Rufkote  has  been  applied  and  the  scrolls  worked  in  with  the 
round  brush,  the  fingers  are  also  used  as  the  texture  indicates. 
Then  lines  are  snapped  on  by  placing  a  chalkline  equal  distances 
apart  to  make  the  blocks  the  size  wanted.  Flaving  done  this 
take  a  straightedge  and  with  a  tool  mark  off  the  lines  in  diagonal 
fashion.  This  marking  tool  may  be  from  one-half  to  one  inch 
wide,  depending  upon  the  wall  size  and  it  may  be  a  screwdriver 
or  a  piece  of  soft  white  pine  cut  off  square  and  smooth. 

When  the  texture  has  been  produced  and  lined  off  let  it  dry  — 
give  a  coat  of  glue  size  —  then  apply  a  coat  of  Rufkote  Wall 
Glaze  colored  to  suit. 


[45] 


Spanish  Palm  Fmish 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 
Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 


Dry  Color,  Raw  Sienna, 
Raw  Umber 
Glue  Size 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 
Raw  Umber  in  Oil  or  Dry 


This  name  for  a  wall  finish  is  on  the  tongues  of  many  and  yet 
there  seems  to  be  no  very  definite  idea  of  the  exact  character  of 
texture  to  which  it  may  rightfully  be  applied.  In  the  absence  of 
definite  data  and  after  an  examination  of  early  Spanish  mission 
finishes  in  our  southwestern  and  Pacific  coast  states  one  may 
reasonably  assume  that  the  real  Spanish  palm  finish  is  that  which 
was  actually  done  with  the  palms  of  the  hands.  The  plaster  was 
applied  with  rough  trowels  or  paddles  and  then  smoothed  up 
as  much  as  possible  with  the  hands.  The  texture  which  results 
from  this  method  is  that  shown  by  Figure  6. 

The  production  of  Spanish  palm  finish  with  Rufkote  is 
simple.  The  first  requirement  after  the  surface  has  been  prop¬ 
erly  prepared  as  per  Chapter  III  is  the  spreading  of  Rufkote 
tinted  light  cream  with  raw  sienna  with  a  Dutch  calcimine  brush 
or  a  flat  wall  brush,  taking  care  to  force  perfect  contact  of  the 
coating  with  the  surface.  Let  this  coat  set  a  few  minutes  and 
then  apply  another  thick  coat  —  thick  and  thin  in  places.  Allow 
this  coat  to  set  until  the  Rufkote  is  no  longer  sticky  but  still 
plastic.  Then  with  the  palm  of  the  hand  smooth  it  over  fairly 
well,  allowing  it  to  remain  thick  and  thin  in  places.  Work  the 
palm  of  the  hand  and  fingers  in  a  circular  manner  to  smooth  the 
surfaces.  After  drying  over  night  or  longer  until  hard  give  a 
coat  of  glue  size  and  apply  a  glaze  stain  mixed  by  thinning  a 


Fig.  28. 
[46] 


little  raw  umber  with  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze.  The  umber  may  be 
dry  or  ground  in  oil.  Apply  the  glaze  coat  to  the  whole  surface, 
permit  it  to  set  a  few  minutes  and  then  wipe  it  off  from  the 
whole  surface  except  in  the  holes  and  crevices,  where  it  should 
be  allowed  to  remain  dark. 


Roman  Travertine  Texture 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush 
Wall  Stippling  Brush 
Line  Marking  Tool 
Straightedge 
Sand  Blower 
Triangle,  Celluloid 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Colors  in  Oil  or  Dry 
Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


This  texture  is  much  used  in  large  bank  rooms  (see  page  25), 
theatres,  railroad  station  waiting  rooms  and  other  public  build¬ 
ings,  but  it  is  equally  suitable  for  moderately  large  rooms  in 
residences  of  the  more  pretentious  type.  It  is  essentially  a  formal 
treatment  of  walls  and  for  that  reason  is  used  only  in  rooms  of 
homes  which  aim  to  have  a  more  or  less  formal  atmosphere. 

Before  attempting  to  describe  the  production  of  Travertine 
finish  it  is  well  to  recall  that  as  done  in  plastic  paint,  plaster  or 
cement  this  finish  is  a  representation  of  a  natural  stone  which  is 
taken  from  the  quarries  of  Italy.  Travertine  is  a  rock  formed 
by  calcareous  (lime  or  chalk-lime)  deposits  from  spring  water  in 
Italy.  The  natural  rock  is  cut  into  blocks  and  is  much  used  in 
Europe  for  building  purposes.  The  face  of  this  rock  has  soft 
spots  in  it  running  in  a  generally  parallel  direction  and  these  soft 
places  are  washed  out  by  the  weather,  leaving  pockets  or  irregu¬ 
lar  holes  in  the  stone  surface.  The  color  is  cream  and  light 
yellow. 

A  true  representation  of  Travertine  can  be  produced  with 
Rufkote  colored  a  light  cream  with  raw  sienna.  The  first  step 
in  the  process  is  to  apply  a  thin  coat  of  Rufkote  plastic  paint 
to  part  of  the  surface,  brushing  it  well  into  contact  with  the  old 
surface.  Then  apply  more  while  the  first  is  wet  until  you  have 
a  thickness  of  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch. 

The  next  operation  is  to  take  a  regular  wall  brush,  see  Figure 
40  and  stipple  the  wet  Rufkote  all  over  uniformly.  Let  the  sur¬ 
face  set  a  few  minutes  and  then  take  a  celluloid  triangle  such  as 
is  used  by  a  draftsman,  one  that  is  at  least  a  foot  long,  and  draw 
it  across  the  soft  Rufkote  in  a  horizontal  direction.  Draw  it 
for  a  foot  or  two,  lift  it  and  start  in  another  place  higher  or 
lower  and  repeat  in  the  same  direction.  This  action  smooths 
out  most  of  the  surface  but  leaves  series  of  pockets  or  holes  in 
the  Rufkote  in  irregular  lines  or  groups.  A  long  spatula  knife 
can  be  used  instead  of  the  triangle. 

The  next  operation  is  to  line-off  the  surface  after  it  has 
become  fairly  dry  but  not  hard.  This,  may  take  only  an  hour 


[471 


in  some  rooms  and  several  hours  when  temperature  and  ventila¬ 
tion  are  not  so  good.  The  natural  Travetine  blocks  of  stone 
are  usually  9x18  inches,  approximately,  and  so  plastic  paint  is 
usually  marked  off  in  blocks  of  that  size  or  nearly  that  size, 
depending  upon  how  it  works  out  after  dividing  the  width  of 
the  wall  up  into  an  even  number  of  blocks  and  half  blocks,  or 
quarter  blocks.  Run  the  horizontal  lines  first  (Figure  30)  and 
nine  inches  apart.  For  marking  these  lines  it  is  best  to  have  a 
straightedge  which  may  be  made  of  any  straightpiece  of  wood  — 
a  doorstop  makes  a  good  one.  Drive  two  four-penny  finishing 
nails  into  this  straightedge  which  is  a  yard  or  so  long  and  let  the 
nails  come  through  the  wood  about  ^  inch.  Then  when  you  set 
the  straightedge  on  the  soft  Rufkote  finish  it  will  not  damage 
the  surface  —  the  nailholes  will  not  matter.  Mark  off  the  loca¬ 
tion  of  the  horizontal  lines  with  a  rule,  nine  inches  apart  and 
then  trace  them  with  the  straightedge  using  the  square  end  of 
a  small  three-cornered  saw  file,  a  small  screwdriver  or,  better  yet, 
the  special  tool  pictured  in  Figure  16.  The  shoulders  on  this 
tool  smooths  the  edges  of  the  lines  as  you  go.  Let  the  finish  dry 
over  night  or  longer  and  then  sandpaper  off  the  rough  edges 
along  the  line  markings  and  elsewhere  if  any.  Brush  off  the 
dust  and  you  are  ready  to  apply  the  size  and  glaze  or  stain  coat 
to  finish. 

Another  good  way  to  locate  your  horizontal  lines  is  to  mark 
off  the  wall  in  each  corner  with  a  rule,  making  a  mark  every 
9  inches  up  or  9^4  or  8%,  whichever  divides  the  wall  into  an 
even  number  of  blocks.  Then  take  a  chalkline,  chalk  it  well, 
have  someone  hold  one  end  on  the  marks  in  the  corner  and  you 
hold  the  other  end.  Snap  the  line  when  taut  and  the  chalkline 
will  trace  the  location  of  each  horizontal  line  as  you  go.  Then 
it  will  be  easy  to  go  over  the  chalk  line  with  the  straightedge  and 
lining  tool. 

Having  the  surface  all  textured  and  lined  the  next  step  is  to 
apply  the  glaze  stain  when  the  surface  is  completely  dry.  This 
glaze  coat  is  mixed  by  adding  to  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  a  small 
amount  of  raw  umber  ground  in  oil  or  in  dry  form.  Mix  it  thin, 
brush  it  all  over  the  surface,  let  it  set  a  few  minutes  and  then 
with  a  wad  of  cloth  wipe  the  surface.  This  will  remove  the 
stain  from  all  of  the  surface  except  the  pockets  or  pits  which 
should  remain  quite  dark  in  color.  The  job  is  now  finished. 

There  is  another  method  which  is  sometimes  used  for  produc¬ 
ing  Travertine.  The  method  just  described  is  followed  up  to  and 
including  the  stippling  of  the  Rufkote  with  wall  stippling 
brush.  Then  some  dry  white  silica  sand,  called  Ottawa  sand  in 
some  sections  and  by  other  names,  is  used  to  put  the  color  on 
the  surface.  Any  clean  white  sand  that  is  dry  and  uniform 
from  screening  as  not  to  be  too  fine  will  do.  Dry  color,  raw 
umber  or  a  mixture  of  raw  umber  and  burnt  umber  are  the 


[48] 


1^  ^  ^  V 


■y  ■.  '".  ■  k-i-y 


^'J 

a:  ./ 


-'.  .P'  ■  ^ 


1^' 

S' I 

i. 

«5: 


•■  ^v  '  '  J  ^ 

■  ■>:*;  ^ 

‘  f;,:;  '■  '  P  " 

■'  •  » 

-!•>  .  If  f  .-  ^ 

■■  .  ■  '  >»■  ri‘  .  ^  »  ■  '■' 

/'  \ 

I  ■  ■  '‘^a  "'  ■  • 

/.  J  .  '/ i. 

u- 


f  /'  I  .  ''4  V'-^'W’^'.  ■!*■., 

.  '6>^  ;»  ■••-’  .  ■' 


'  ''v 


w  /  .V 


'  '  *•  ’v  '  ’«  'V^  •Jtf?'  jJP 

4^  KM  ••>*  -T  ’  •'.  ^  jji^ '  '  ’  iJr- 

'  \  '■  .y  '  ” yy  ': 


Sj^duish  l\il}n  Finish 


colors  mixed  to  darken  the  sand.  This  mixture  is  blown  on  to 
the  wet  stippled  Rufkote  in  horizontal  streaks.  Figure  22 
shows  the  application  of  sand  color  with  bellows.  Then  the  sur¬ 
face  is  immediately  smoothed  with  the  celluloid  triangle  or  long 
spatula  knife  as  described.  After  that  it  is  lined  off  into  blocks 
as  described  and  allowed  to  dry.  After  sanding  the  rough  edges 
of  the  lines  the  job  is  finished.  No  glaze  coat  is  needed.  The 
first  method  described  makes  the  best  representation  of  Travertine. 

One  point  to  be  carefully  watched  in  using  either  of  these 
methods  is  that  of  stippling  at  just  the  right  time.  If  the 
stippling  is  done  too  soon  the  pockets  are  apt  to  be  too  large  and 
if  done  too  late  they  will  be  too  small. 

Another  material  which  can  be  used  in  place  of  the  sand  is 
smalts  of  dark  brown  color.  Such  material  is  much  used  by  sign 
painters  and  works  well  but  is  more  expensive.  Not  much  is 
needed  for  an  average  room,  however.  A  coat  of  liquid  wax  is 
sometimes  brushed  on  and  polished  a  little  with  a  cloth  to  give 
a  dull  lustre. 


Fig.  29. 

Roman  Travertine 
[49] 


French  Caen  Stone 


Tools  Needed  Materials  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Wall  Stippling  Brush  Raw  Sienna,  Dry 

Straightedge 

Chalkline 

Marker  Tool 


Caen  is  the  name  of  a  city  in  northwestern  France  and  it  is 
an  old  one,  dating  back  to  before  the  ninth  century.  There  are 
great  quarries  near  this  city  from  which  limestone  of  a  creamy 
white  color  has  been  taken  for  building  purposes  for  hundreds 
of  years.  Much  of  it  has  been  exported.  Many  English  churches 
and  other  buildings  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century  were  con¬ 
structed  of  French  Caen  stone.  A  cement  is  made  from  this 
same  stone  and  with  it  artificial  Caen  stone  blocks  are  made. 
They  are  about  9  inches  high  and  18  inches  wide.  In  walls 
they  are  set  very  close  together  and  cemented.  The  artificial 
stone  is  much  used  today. 

Rufkote  makes  very  good  duplications  of  Caen  stone  finish 
and  by  a  very  simple  handling.  It  is  mixed  to  a  light  cream 
color  with  raw  sienna  and  then  applied  in  a  fairly  thin  coating, 
about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  thick.  This  coating  should  be 
allowed  to  set  a  little  longer  than  usual  and  is  then  stippled  as 
soon  as  it  has  set  enough  so  that  it  is  not  sticky.  Stippling  after 
Rufkote  has  become  a  little  stiff  makes  the  fine  character  of 
texture  which  matches  the  natural  Caen  stone  closely. 

After  a  few  hours  the  texture  is  lined  off  in  exactly  the 
same  manner  as  was  described  for  Travertine.  Note  Figure  3  0. 
When  the  Rufkote  is  dry,  smooth  down  the  edges  of  the  lines 
with  sandpaper,  dust  off  and  the  job  is  done. 


Fig.  30. 

[50  ] 


[51  ] 


Fig.  31.  French  Caen  Stone 


Italian  Effect 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush 
Wall  Stippling  Brush 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Tinting  Colors,  Dry 
Glue  Size 

Color  for  Glazing,  Oil  or  Dr> 


In  this  moderately  rough  texture  we  have  one  which  can  be 
done  quickly  and  about  as  little  experience  and  skill  are  required 
as  can  be  imagined.  It  is  a  very  attractive  texture  for  many 
types  of  rooms,  large  and  moderately  large.  It  finishes  up 
beautifully  by  applying  the  Rufkote  in  its  natural  white  and 
when  dry  applying  a  glaze  stain  coat  and  wiping. 

To  produce  this  broad  brush  stipple  apply  the  Rufkote  about 
one-eighth  inch  thick,  or  thicker  for  a  more  rugged  texture. 
Distribute  the  material  fairly  well  over  the  surface  and  then 
immediately  stipple  by  pounding  lightly  with  the  wall  stippling 
brush.  That  will  rough-up  the  Rufkote  generally.  Next  use 
the  stippling  brush  immediately  in  broad  semi-circular  sweeps 
from  six  to  ten  inches  at  a  stroke.  Make  some  strokes  over-hand, 
some  under-hand  and  some  in  all  directions  at  random.  Do  not 
brush  the  entire  surface,  but  allow  some  of  the  very  rough 
stippled  texture  to  protrude  between  the  broad  brush  sweeps  at 
the  ends  of  the  strokes. 

Allow  the  texture  to  dry,  give  a  coat  of  glue  size  and  finish 
with  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  colored  to  suit  using  one  or  more 
colors,  blending  and  wiping. 


Fic.  32. 
[52] 


Moderately  Rough  Textures 

For  Average  Living  Rooms,  Dining  Rooms  and  Halls  in  Homes.  For 
Theatres,  Public  Halls,  Restaurants  and  Business  Buildings. 

The  number  of  textures  which  fall  within  this  group  is  very 
large  and  only  a  few  interesting  examples  can  be  shown  within 
the  space  at  hand.  These  are  such  as  are  not  too  large  in  pattern, 
too  deep  and  massive  of  texture  to  be  suitable  for  rooms  which 
are  not  larger  than  average  and  which  have  architectural  trim  of 
moderate  proportions  and  scale.  Practically  all  of  these  textures 
are  capable  of  being  handled  in  an  unlimited  number  of  color 
combinations  in  addition  to  those  named  here  for  purposes  of 
illustrating  the  working  methods  employed. 


Fi.g  33. 


Rufkote  used  with  plaster  relief  ornament 


[53] 


Foliage  Texture 

Tools  Needed  Materials  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Wood  Pickle  Spoon  Tinting  Colors 

This  pattern  resembles  clusters  of  leaves  and  while  fairly  regu¬ 
lar  in  general  effect  the  movement  is  irregular  and  has  in  it  no 
hint  of  mechanical  repetition. 

The  first  operation  is  the  application  of  Rufkote  mixed  as 
per  directions  and  tinted  any  color  wanted,  preferably  the  very 
light  hues.  The  Rufkote  should  be  spread  on  about  one-quarter 
inch  thick  and  after  roughly  distributing  it  over  the  surface  to 
gain  good  contact  with  the  wall  take  a  wood  pickle  spoon  and 
beginning  at  the  top  of  the  wall,  move  it  in  a  circular  fashion 
over  the  surface.  Do  not  produce  a  succession  of  circles,  but 
rather,  after  a  half  or  quarter  revolution  of  the  tool,  lift  it  and 
start  again  nearby,  ploughing  and  piling  up  the  material  in 
ridges  of  interesting  formation.  Do  not  get  the  circles  lined  up 
in  any  continuous  direction. 

After  texturing  the  finish  is  complete,  but  may  be  further 
protected  as  described  on  page  3  3.  It  has  a  variable  color 
impression  because  of  the  shadows  cast  by  the  projections.  Of 
course,  a  still  different  effect  can  be  gained  over  white  Rufkote 
by  using  a  glaze  stain  over  the  surface  when  dry. 


Fig.  34. 
[54] 


Fig.  35. 


French  Effect 

Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 
Long  Spatula  Knife 


This  rather  simple  and  quiet  texture  has  a  very  old  history 
and  has  been  used  by  many  peoples.  It  is  the  texture  which  natu¬ 
rally  results  from  the  application  of  plaster,  stucco  or  plastic 
paint  and  a  rather  crude  smoothing  operation.  Centuries  back  it 
was  as  smooth  a  finish  as  could  be  made.  It  fits  many  types  of 
architecture  and  small  rooms  as  well  as  large. 

To  gain  this  texture  apply  Rufkote  with  a  brush  as  usual 
and  after  brushing  it  out  well  into  contact  with  the  surface 
apply  more  with  a  brush  or  steel  trowel.  Then  after  the  coating 
has  set  a  little,  smooth  it  up  as  best  you  can  with  the  long  knife 
spatula  or  steel  trowel,  working  the  tool  in  all  directions. 

As  to  coloring,  this  finish  may  simply  be  colored  by  tinting  the 
Rufkote  before  application,  considering  the  job  finished  after 
smoothing  it  off.  Or,  a  two-tone  coloring  may  be  applied  by 
the  use  of  a  glaze  coat,  using  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  as  per 
Chapter  VII. 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Tinting  Colors,  Dry 
Glue  Size 

Glaze  Colors,  Dry  or  Oil 
Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


[55] 


The  Cross-Hatch  Pattern 

Tools  Needed  Materials  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or  Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Flat  Wall  Brush  Tinting  Colors 

An  unusual  and  rather  subtle  pattern  which  is  one  of  the 
easiest  and  quickest  of  all  to  apply.  Simple  color  effects  are 
done  merely  by  tinting  the  Rufkote,  while  more  colorful  fin¬ 
ishes  result  from  applying  a  ground  coat  of  one  of  the  bronze 
colors  and  then  glazing  over  with  a  transparent  glaze  stain  as 
per  Chapter  VII. 

To  execute  this  texture  apply  the  Rufkote  about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  thick,  distribute  it  well  and  brush  it  firmly  into 
contact  with  the  surface.  Now,  if  a  small  pattern  is  wanted 
with  blocks  about  four  inches  square  take  a  four-inch  flat  wall 
brush  and,  starting  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner  of  the  wall, 
draw  the  brush  down  through  the  wet  Rufkote  about  four 
inches.  Lift  the  brush  and  draw  it  in  a  horizontal  manner, 
making  a  block  four  inches  wide  right  next  to  the  first  block 
made.  The  third  block  should  be  made  next  to  the  second  on 
the  right,  drawing  the  brush  from  the  top  down.  Repeat  these 
alternate  strokes  of  the  brush  all  the  way  across  the  wall.  Then 
start  the  second  row  of  blocks  with  a  horizontal  stroke  and 
follow  up  with  alternate  horizontal  and  vertical  strokes  as  used 
in  the  first  row.  No  rule  or  chalk  lines  are  needed  after  a  little 
practise.  It  is  not  desirable  to  have  the  blocks  too  accurately 
square  and  by  using  the  width  of  the  brush,  as  a  rule  the  tops, 
bottoms  and  sides  of  the  blocks  can  be  kept  pretty  well  in  line. 
The  edges  of  the  blocks  want  to  be  only  fairly  well  defined,  not 
sharp  and  clean-cut.  Then  the  texture  will  have  a  freedom  and 
artistic  effect,  as  the  pattern  and  coloring  appear  differently 
when  looking  at  it  from  different  angles  depending  upon  how 
the  light  strikes  it.  For  a  protecting  coat  over  the  finish  see 
page  33. 


[56J 


I 


luiluni  L:  l  i  cct 


I 


Fig.  36. 

The  CrosS'Hatch  Pattern 


[  57] 


The  Square  Trowel  Texture 


Tools  Needed 

Square  Steel  Plasterers’  Trowel 
Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 

Tinting  Colors 

Glazing  Colors,  Dry  or  Oil 


Unusually  interesting  textures  are  these,  having  many  color 
tones.  They  are  suitable  for  moderate  sized  rooms,  even  small 
rooms  and  are  not  at  all  difficult  to  produce. 

Referring  to  Figure  3  7,  the  first  operation  is  to  apply  Rufkote 
thin  with  a  brush  to  gain  good  contact  with  the  surface  and 
then  while  this  first  coat  is  wet  apply  more  material  with  the 
square  steel  trowel.  Mix  the  Rufkote  in  the  regular  way  of 
thick  consistency.  Have  a  brush  in  the  pot  and  transfer  the 
Rufkote  with  it  to  the  trowel,  or  better  yet,  dump  the  Rufkote 
on  a  square  board  with  a  handle  on  the  bottom  like  a  plasterer’s 
hawk.  Then  it  is  much  easier  to  pick  up  and  transfer  the 
Rufkote  to  the  surface  just  as  plaster  is  handled.  Spread  it  on 
the  surface  with  the  trowel  and  rub  it  out  just  enough  with 
one  stroke  to  cover  the  surface.  Don’t  try  to  smooth  it  up,  but 
let  the  ridges  made  by  the  trowel  at  the  end  of  the  strokes  remain. 
Trowel  in  all  directions,  one  load  at  a  time  and  let  the  surface 
alone  until  dry.  This  troweled  coat  may  be  colored  with  oil  or 
dry  tinting  colors  to  gain  the  final  color  wanted,  or  it  may  be 
applied  in  the  white  with  the  idea  of  applying  a  glaze  stain  coat 
when  the  Rufkote  is  dry.  See  Chapter  VII  for  instruction 
about  this  glaze  stain  coat  for  two-tone  effects.  The  wall  shown 
by  Figure  37  was  done  by  tinting  the  Rufkote  slightly  with 
raw  sienna  to  produce  an  ivory  color.  When  dry  a  water  glaze 
stain  was  applied  to  gain  a  soft,  light  olive  green.  Colors  used 
for  the  glaze  were  dry  chrome  green,  raw  sienna,  whiting  and 
glue  size.  It  was  applied,  allowed  to  set  a  little  and  wiped  with  a 
cloth.  For  waterproofing  this  finish  see  page  33. 


[58] 


Fig.  37. 

The  Square  Trowel  Texture 


[59] 


old  English  Finish 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 
Bricklayer’s  Trowel 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


Material  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Paint 
Tinting  Colors 

Glaze  Colors,  Dry  or  Oil  ti 


A  fascinating  texture  which  appears  rather  bold  and  rugged,  f 
yet  actually  is  quite  smooth  and  can  be  wiped  down  to  clean.  \ 

The  figure  may  be  made  large  or  small  by  varying  the  trowel  | 

sized  used.  A  suitable  texture  for  living  rooms,  club  rooms,  I 

theatres,  hotels  and  other  public  rooms.  | 

The  first  coat  should  be  the  application  of  Rufkote  with  a 
brush,  forcing  it  well  into  contact  with  the  surface.  Then 
apply  more  to  a  depth  of  about  one-quarter  inch  or  a  little  less.  \ 

While  wet  take  a  pointed  bricklayers’  steel  trowel  and  just  smooth  | 

up  the  surface  by  troweling  in  all  directions.  1 

The  texture  should  then  be  allowed  to  dry  and  a  finishing  | 
coat  of  glaze  color  should  be  applied  as  per  Chapter  VII.  While 
the  glaze  color  is  wet  wipe  it  off  to  remove  the  color  from  the  ) 
high  spots.  I 


Fig.  38. 
[60  J 


Fig.  39. 


Sponge  Pattern 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 

Flat  Wall  Brush 

Large  Sheepswool  Sponge 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Paint 

Tinting  Colors 

Glazing  Colors,  Dry  or  Oil 


A  simple  and  easy  texture  to  produce  and  one  which  fits  in 
many  places.  The  pattern  is  not  too  large  for  moderate  sized 
rooms.  This  texture  finishes  up  very  nicely  for  dado  wall  treat¬ 
ment  below  chair  and  plate  rails.  It  is  so  varied  and  interesting 
that  when  given  a  ground  coat  of  bronze,  aluminum,  gold, 
copper  or  mixtures  of  these  colors,  and  glazed  over  with  a 
stain  it  has  considerable  appeal. 

The  first  operation  is  to  apply  the  Rufkote  with  a  brush  and 
distribute  it  well  over  the  surface,  making  sure  to  force  it  well 
into  contact.  While  wet  take  an  ordinary  large  sheepswool 
sponge  and  after  clipping  off  any  real  sharp  points  with  scissors 
proceed  to  stipple  the  wet  Rufkote  all  over.  It  is  well  to  change 
the  position  of  the  sponge  in  the  hand  often  to  vary  the  texture 
and  av^oid  any  mechanical  repetition  of  pattern.  The  sponge 
should  be  soaked  in  water  before  the  job  is  started.  Wash  it 
out  often  as  the  job  progresses,  so  it  will  not  become  overloaded 
and  change  the  pattern  as  you  go. 

When  the  texture  is  dry  it  may  be  sandpapered  with  No.  Yz 
sandpaper  to  smooth  up  the  larger  areas.  Then  it  may  be  glazed 
as  it  is,  or  may  well  be  given  the  coat  of  bronze  mentioned, 
after  which  the  glaze  stain  coat  is  applied  as  per  Chapter  VII. 


[61] 


Colonial  Type 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 
Wall  Stipple  Brush 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Paint 
Tinting  Colors 
Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 
Glaze  Stain  Colors 


When  rooms  are  small  textures  and  patterns  of  small  scale, 
obviously,  are  needed.  Strong  patterns,  colorings  and  texture 
cause  small  rooms  to  appear  smaller.  For  the  same  reason  light 
colors  are  to  be  preferred  to  dark  colors  in  small  rooms. 

This  plain  brush  stipple  texture  also  is  one  of  the  most  suit¬ 
able  for  ceilings  no  matter  what  the  texture  used  on  side  walls 
may  be. 

In  order  to  produce  this  texture  mix  up  your  Rufkote  as 
usual  and  coat  the  surface  about  one-eighth  inch  deep  or  less, 
brushing  the  material  out  well  to  gain  good  contact  with  the 
surface.  After  distributing  the  Rufkote  fairly  evenly  over  the 
surface  let  it  set  a  few  minutes  and  then  go  over  it  with  the 
stippling  wall  brush  which  is  used  like  a  hammer  to  pound  the 
surface.  The  brush  should  never  be  used  like  other  brushes 
when  stippling;  it  should  not  be  moved  to  one  side  or  other 
while  in  contact  with  the  surface,  because  that  gives  the  texture 
a  mussy  appearance.  Lift  the  brush  clear  of  the  surface  for  every 
stroke. 

When  Rufkote  is  stippled  immediately  after  application  and 
while  it  is  sticky  the  texture  is  rather  coarse.  That  effect  is  not 
so  attractive  as  the  texture  produced  after  allowing  the  Rufkote 
to  set  a  few  minutes. 

If  the  stippling  is  repeated  after  the  first  time  over  and  after 
Rufkote  has  set  more  the  result  is  a  finer  texture. 


Fig.  40. 

The  Stippling  W  all  Brush  in  Use 
[62] 


Smooth  Marble  Finishes 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 
Wall  Stipple  Brush 
Bellows  Sander 
Long  Spatula  Knife 

Painted  marble  finishes  have  become  quite  popular  for  bath 
room  walls,  for  dado  wall  areas,  for  panel  centers  and  on  many 
surfaces  in  business  and  public  buildings.  Very  few  decorators 
can  produce  first  class  marbling  by  this  hand  painted  proc¬ 
ess  which  aims  to  make  true  copies  of  natural  marble.  With 
the  method  which  follows  anybody  can  do  marble  finishes  which, 
while  not  pretending  to  be  faithful  reproductions,  are  very  good 
representations  of  the  general  marble  effects.  These  finishes  have 
the  advantage  of  being  done  far  more  quickly  than  other  marble 
effects  and  whether  or  not  they  are  called  marbling  they  are 
very  interesting  representations  of  natural  earth  formations  in 
rock.  They  are  useful  finishes  for  large  columns,  for  walls  below 
rails  and  for  many  other  surfaces.  The  coloring  may  be  any 
that  suits  the  fancy  or  may  follow  natural  rock  hues. 

The  Rufkote  is  mixed  as  usual,  and  tinted  to  give  the  general 
tone  wanted.  It  is  brushed  on  to  the  surface  about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  thick  and  forced  well  into  contact  with  the  surface 
by  brushing.  Next  it  is  stippled  with  the  wall  stippling  brush 
to  distribute  the  material  more  evenly  and  gives  a  rough  texture 
to  receive  the  next  color  application.  Immediately  after  stippling 
and  while  the  Rufkote  is  wet  and  sticky,  apply  clouds  of  dry 
color  mixed  with  a  little  dry,  white  sand.  Now  take  the  long 
j  spatula  knife,  or  a  square  steel  plaster’s  trowel  and  smooth  over 

:  the  wet  colored  surface,  working  the  tool  in  all  directions. 

;  Proper  handling  will  make  the  coating  as  smooth  as  marble  and 

I  then  it  is  allowed  to  dry  hard.  Any  tool  marks  or  rough  areas 

I  can  be  rubbed  smooth  with  No.  00  sandpaper  or  steel  wool  when 

I  the  surface  is  hard  dry. 

I  Finish  with  a  glue  size  and  two  or  three  coats  of  floor  or 
cabinet  varnish  or  clear  lacquer.  Rub  with  steel  wool  or  pumice 
and  water  for  marble  finish. 

I 

i 


i 

1 


Materials  NeI'Ded 

Rufkote  Plastic  Paint 
Tinting  Colors 
Varnish  or  Lacquer 


163] 


Verticle  Stripe  Texhires 


Tools  Needed 

Dutch  Calcimine  Brush,  or 
Flat  Wall  Brush 
Wood  Pickle  Fork 
Hair  Comb  or  Brush 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Tinting  Colors 
Glaze  Stain,  Dry  or 
Oil  Colors 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


Rooms  having  low  ceilings  often  are  effectively  decorated 
with  textures  which  have  a  vertical  stripe  pattern.  Also  large 
rooms  with  high  ceilings  are  sometimes  attractively  decorated 
with  this  type  of  texture.  The  stripe  textures  are  very  easy  to 
produce  and  may  be  done  in  white  Rufkote  and  glaze  stained 
and  wiped  for  a  two-tone  effect.  The  vertical  stripe  textures 
apparently  increase  the  height  of  the  ceiling. 

Figure  42  shows  a  vertical  stripe  texture  of  rugged  nature 
which  was  produced  by  coating  the  wall  fairly  evenly  with  about 
one-quarter  inch  thickness  of  Rufkote.  Then  after  the  coating 
had  set  a  few  minutes  an  ordinary  wood  pickle  spoon  was  used 
to  produce  the  vertical  lines  by  drawing  it  through  the  soft 
Rufkote  alternately,  first  from  the  top  down  and  then  from 
the  bottom  up  on  the  next  stretch.  If  you  make  all  the  stripes 
working  from  the  top  down  you  will  drag  too  much  material 
from  the  surface  and  it  will  accumulate  at  the  bottom  of  the 
wall.  The  up  strokes  return  some  of  it  and  distribute  it  more 
evenly  over  the  surface. 

Figure  41  shows  another  vertical  stripe  texture  accomplished 
with  a  steel  wire  tooth  hair  brush.  The  illustration  shows  the 


Fig.  41.  The  Wire  Hair  Brush  in  Action 

[64  ] 


■  ^  t  '..‘'V  1-  ■  '  ■  '  ■'  t  .*  »  'fi'.’t  V  '...i  >'■  1  .■■'  v';;  •'  *;,  • 


Colonial  Tyjoc 


Fig.  42. 

Vertical  Stripe  Texture 


[65] 


brush  in  action.  It  should  be  drawn  from  the  top  of  the  wall 
down  for  the  first  stretch  and  from  the  bottom  up  for  the 
second,  then  alternate.  Clean  the  brush  out  after  each  stroke 
so  the  texture  will  be  uniform  over  the  whole  surface. 

Slightly  different  vertical  stripe  textures  are  produced  using 
other  tools  such  as  a  hair  comb  or  steel  wire  cleaning  brush. 


Holland  Wall  Texture 


Tools  Needed 

Square  Steel  Trowel 
Sand  Paper 
Calcimine  Brush 


Materials  Needed 

Rufkote  Plastic  Stone 
Tinting  Colors 
Glaze  Stain  Colors 
Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 


The  texture  shown  in  these  photographs  is  commonly  called 
Dutch  or  Holland,  although  it  was  used  by  other  peoples  and 
is  not  greatly  different  from  similar  textures  done  with  the  same 
tools.  The  chief  difference  is  that  after  finishing  the  texture 
and  glazing  it  this  finish  is  sandpapered  with  No.  1  paper  on 
a  block  of  wood  and  that  cuts  through  the  glaze  color,  revealing 
the  white  or  light  ivory  ground  color  of  the  Rufkote  as  irregu¬ 
lar  light  lines  noted  in  Figure  43.  Figure  44  shows  this  tex¬ 
ture  used  on  both  side  walls  and  ceiling  of  an  average  home. 

This  texture  was  done  over  smooth  plaster  walls.  A  square 
steel  trowel  was  used  to  apply  the  plastic,  moving  it  in  all  direc- 


Fig.  43. 
[66] 


Fig.  44. 

A  Room  in  Holland  Wall  Texture 


[67  1 


tions  and  making  no  attempt  to  produce  a  smooth,  level  surface. 
When  dry  a  glaze  stain  was  applied,  of  the  water  type  using 
raw  umber,  whiting  and  glue  size  as  per  Chapter  VII. 

The  wood  trim  in  this  room  is  gumwood  stained  in  walnut 
brown  and  the  fireplace  is  made  of  tapestry,  wire-cut  brick 
which  are  not  as  thick  as  standard  and  are  in  the  browns,  dull 
reds  and  dull  yellows. 

Ceiling  T extures  and  Colorings 

As  a  rule  ceilings  are  done  in  simple,  fine  textures  and  the 
texture  called  Plain  Brush  Stipple,  (Figure  40),  serves  as  appro¬ 
priate  for  use  with  all  wall  textures.  Where  this  is  used  the 
Rufkote  is  colored  exactly  the  same  for  the  ceiling  as  for  the 
side  walls  and  sometimes  the  ceiling  is  glazed  with  the  same  color 
as  the  walls.  When  a  very  light  colored  ceiling  is  wanted  no 
glaze  is  used,  or  else  the  glaze  color  is  wiped  very  much  to 
remove  most  of  it. 

When  the  side  wall  textures  are  not  very  rough  and  rugged 
they  are  sometimes  modified  to  smoother  effects  and  used  on  the 
ceilings  with  the  same  colorings  in  lighter  values. 

Novelty  Textures 

There  are  surfaces  on  walls  of  some  buildings,  such  as  panel 
centers  within  wood  mouldings,  which  call  for  an  unusual  treat¬ 
ment  away  from  the  conventional  and  conservative.  When 


Fig.  45. 
[68] 


Fig.  46. 

theatres,  cafes,  business  shops  and  other  places  of  amusement 
and  business  are  to  be  decorated  with  an  unusual  style  Rufkote 
offers  finishes  which  are  only  limited  in  variety  by  the  decorator’s 
imagination.  By  various  combinations  of  textures,  tools,  colors 
and  methods  of  procedure  fantastic  and  bizarre  treatments  are 
easily  done.  Following  are  a  few  suggestions.  Many  more  are 
easily  worked  out.  Figure  45.  Rufkote  in  its  white  natural 
color  is  brushed  on  to  the  surface  and  while  very  wet  is  stippled 
to  the  roughest  points  possible  with  a  wall  stippling  brush. 
While  wet  a  little  dry  gold  or  colored  bronze,  or  several  colors, 
are  blown  on  in  clouds  here  and  there.  Next  a  smoothing  tool 
such  as  a  celluloid  triangle,  long  spatula  knife  or  steel  trowel 
is  used  to  smooth  out  part  of  the  surface,  leaving  the  balance 
rough  and  untouched.  The  texture  is  allowed  to  dry  hard  in  this 
condition.  To  finish,  then,  mix  up  two  or  three  colors,  tinting 
colors  ground  in  oil  and  mixed  with  varnish  to  brushing  con¬ 
sistency.  Take  a  piece  of  ordinary  cotton  string  such  as  the 
grocery  uses,  dip  it  into  color  and  whip  it  on  to  the  surface  here 
and  there.  Repeat  with  each  color.  The  finish  shown  in  Figure 
45  is  a  strange  combination  of  white,  gold,  vermilion  and  blue. 

Figure  46.  This  job  was  done  with  a  black  background. 
Rufkote  was  mixed  with  dry  Swedish  black.  It  was  brushed 
over  the  surface  about  one-eighth  inch  thick  and  then  stippled 
with  a  wall  stippling  brush.  After  it  had  set  a  trifle  a  long  blade 
spatula  knife  was  used  to  make  the  surface  as  smooth  as  glass 
with  no  tool  marks  showing.  Next  colors  were  worked  into  the 

[69] 


Fig.  47. 

wet  surface.  A  little  white  lead  ground  in  oil,  the  thick  paste, 
was  daubed  on  here  and  there  and  the  spatula  knife  was  used 
to  smooth  it  over  a  little  and  incorporate  it  into  the  black  in  a 
shaded  manner,  but  not  enough  to  mix  the  white  with  the  black. 
A  bit  of  aluminum  bronze  mixed  with  floor  varnish  was  also 
daubed  on.  Next  a  little  vermilion  was  applied  with  a  brush  in 
the  same  manner  and  smoothed  over.  The  surface  was  allowed 
to  dry  in  this  condition.  The  next  day  some  gold  bronze  was 
mixed  up  with  a  regular  bronzing  liquid,  a  piece  of  cotton  string 
about  18  inches  long  was  dipped  into  the  bronze  and  lashed 
against  the  black  surface  like  a  whip.  Thus  the  odd  veins  or 
streaks  were  made.  A  few  streaks  of  vermilion  were  also  lashed 
on  in  the  same  manner  as  the  gold. 

Figure  47.  This  finish  was  accomplished  by  brushing  Rufkote 
over  the  surface  to  a  depth  of  about  one-eighth  inch  after  it 
had  been  colored  very  lightly  with  raw  sienna.  The  coating 
was- stippled  down  evenly  with  a  wall  stippling  brush.  After 
that  some  live  green  sign  painters’  smalts,  which  is  a  cx>lored 
material  like  beach  sand,  was  blown  on  to  the  wet  Rufkoxe. 
To  finish  a  coarse  rubber  hair  comb  was  used  in  a  semi-circular 
manner  over  the  entire  surface,  being  careful  to  allow  the  small 
areas  of  smalts  color  to  show  through  in  unusual  shapes.  One 
end  of  the  comb  was  pivoted  while  the  other  was  made  to  swing 
around. 

Figure  48.  In  this  we  find  a  finish  which  reminds  one  of  the 
drooping  Spanish  moss  on  live  oak  trees  of  the  South.  It  is  an 
easy  effect  to  gain.  Brush  your  colored  Rufkote  on  in  the 
usual  way,  stipple  it  immediately  with  a  wall  stippling  brush. 
Now  take  some  dry  color  mixed  with  dry  sand  and  blow  it  on 
to  the  wet  Rufkote  by  placing  it  on  a  piece  of  cardboard.  Blow 
it  on  in  horizontal  lines.  After  that  take  a  long  spatula  knife 
or  celluloid  triangle  or  steel  trowel  and  smooth  the  wet  surface 
in  places  with  a  downward  stroke. 

[70] 


Fig.  48. 

Spanish  Moss  Texture 


[  71  ] 


CHAPTER  VII 

Glaze-Staining^  Hightlighting,  Bronzing^ 
Starching^  Bizmg  and  Smut 
CoatSy  Polychrome 

The  elements  of  greatest  interest  in  wall  decorations  are 
variations  in  color  and  texture.  Variation  in  texture  alone 
produces  variations  in  color  with  the  aid  of  light  and 
shadows  cast  by  the  relief  texture.  By  simply  coloring  Rufkote 
with  dry  or  oil  ground  colors  you  produce  what  is  actually  a 
one  color  tone  finish,  but  the  shadows  give  the  effect  of  varying 
shades  of  that  color. 

Two- tone  and  multicolor  effects  are  produced  by  putting  a 
second  and  sometimes  third  and  fourth  color  on  top  of  the 
one  color  Rufkote  texture.  This  second  and  other  colors  are 
transparent  as  a  rule,  but  may  be  either  transparent  or  opaque. 
These  over-colors  are  applied  after  the  Rufkote  is  dry  and  are 
called  glaze  colors  or  glaze  stain  coats. 

When  a  Rufkote  texture  is  dry  it  is  quite  porous.  Any  glaze 
color  applied  strikes  in  deeply  and  also  accumulates  in  the  recesses 
or  crevices,  thus  causing  darker  effects.  For  some  textures  deep 
penetration  is  desirable  and  for  some  it  is  not,  depending  upon 
the  color  effects  wanted. 

One  type  of  glaze-stain  is  that  made  by  thinning  ordinary 
tinting  colors  ground  in  oil  with  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  and 
applying  like  a  thin  stain.  Another  type  which  is  much  liked 
for  its  artistic,  neutral  values  is  made  by  mixing  dry  colors  and 
dry  whiting  with  water  in  which  a  little  glue  has  been  dissolved. 
About  a  pound  of  good  white  flake  glue  is  covered  with  a  little 
cold  water  and  after  soaking  an  hour  or  over  night  the  glue  has 
swelled  considerably.  It  is  then  covered  with  hot  water  and 
stirred  until  dissolved.  After  that  the  dry  color  and  whiting  are 
added,  mixed  well  and  strained  to  break  up  the  lumps.  This 
water  glaze  stain  is  applied  thin  and  freely.  Prepared  calcimine 
mixed  very  thin  with  water  also  makes  a  good  glaze  stain. 

As  a  rule  one  glaze-stain  color  serves  the  purpose,  but  some- 
fimes  two  or  more  colors  are  put  on  at  the  same  time.  Some¬ 
times  one  color  is  put  on,  is  wiped  and  allowed  to  dry  and  later 
a  second  glaze-color  is  applied  to  change  the  color  values  or  cor¬ 
rect  the  first  color.  Usually  any  type  of  glaze  stain  looks  best 
by  wiping  with  a  cloth,  dry  or  wet. 

The  water  glazes  work  best  when  the  surface  is  a  bit  porous, 
although  they  should  be  applied  after  the  surface  has  been  sized 
to  uniform  the  suction.  When  used  without  a  size  the  color 
strikes  in  and  takes  a  deeper,  darker  shade  in  the  very  porous 
areas.  It  is  not  possible  to  wipe  the  color  light  enough  to  uniform 

[72] 


HolldJhi  Wall  Texture 


the  glaze  under  such  conditions.  Also  there  are  sometimes  very 
hard,  non-porous  places  in  walls  which  do  not  take  the  color 
as  deeply  as  the  balance  of  the  surface.  Sizing  before  glazing  is 
essential  to  overcome  that  condition,  too.  Water  glazes  do  not 
work  so  well  over  oil  painted  surfaces  as  over  Rufkote  and  sand 
finished  plaster  which  have  not  had  one  or  two  coats  of  oil  paint. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  water  does  not  take  hold  or 
penetrate  as  it  should  on  oil  paint.  Sometimes  when  the  surface 
is  only  slightly  oily  the  water  stain  can  be  made  to  take  hold 
properly  by  adding  a  little  vinegar  to  it.  But,  generally  speak¬ 
ing,  an  oil  glaze  stain  color  should  be  used  on  any  surface  that 
has  had  oil  paint  ground  coats  put  upon  it. 

Glaze  Stain  Formulas 

While  it  is  hardly  practical  to  write  down  formulas  with 
definite  quantities  of  colors  and  liquids  for  glaze  staining  Rufkote 
textured  surfaces,  some  suggestions  of  colors  and  combinations 
commonly  used  may  be  helpful.  Generally  speaking  the  thinner 
the  glaze  stain  is  mixed  the  lighter  will  be  the  mottled  tint  pro¬ 
duced.  Glaze  stained  colors  are  also  made  much  lighter  by  wiping 
with  a  cloth  immediately  after  application.  When  the  color 
cannot  be  made  light  enough  by  wiping  with  a  dry  cloth,  wet 
the  cloth  with  benzine  or  turpentine  for  oil  glazes  and  with 
water  for  water  glaze. 

BROWNS:  Burnt  umber  ground  in  oil  or  dry  produces  reddish 
browns  of  light  or  dark  character  according  to  the  strength  of 
the  solution,  meaning  the  amount  of  water  in  proportion  to 
color  in  water  glazes  and  the  amount  of  benzine,  turpentine 
or  oil  in  other  glazes. 

Raw  umber,  ground  in  oil  or  dry  produces  greenish  browns 
in  the  darker  shades  and  neutral  grays  in  the  light  tints,  that  is, 
when  used  thin. 

Van  Dyke  brown,  ground  in  oil  or  dry,  makes  glaze  stains 
which  are  far  richer  and  deeper  than  burnt  umber,  in  the  darker 
shades.  In  the  thin  form  Van  Dyke  brown  produces  very  inter¬ 
esting  warm  tans  and  grayish,  neutral  tints. 

YELLOWS:  Raw  Sienna  is  the  most  generally  useful,  being 
fairly  bright,  quite  transparent  in  the  better  grades  and  abso¬ 
lutely  fast  to  sunlight.  It  produces  dark  and  light  buffs. 

Chrome  Yellow.  Strictly  speaking  the  chrome  yellows — 
medium,  light  or  lemon  and  orange  are  not  glaze  colors,  because 
they  are  opaque,  not  transparent,  as  glaze  colors  should  be. 
However,  they  are  used  and  when  mixed  thin  and  wiped  well 
they  are  satisfactory  glazes  for  small  areas  in  decorations.  They 
are  too  strong  and  harsh  for  large  areas. 

Italian  Pink.  An  aniline  tinted  color  which  produces  yellow 
glaze  tints  which  are  a  bit  more  transparent  than  raw  sienna 

[73] 


tints.  Used  only  on  small  areas.  Priced  higher  than  the  other 
yellows. 

Gamboge  is  an  artists’  color  which  is  made  from  a  vegetable 
resin.  In  hue  it  is  close  to  medium  chrome  yellow  but  it  is  trans¬ 
parent,  unlike  that  color.  It  is  not  fast  to  strong  light  and  it  is 
not  much  used  except  occasionally  on  small  surfaces. 

Yellow  Lake.  This  is  a  medium  light  yellow  which  shades 
from  a  neutral  light  hue  to  a  slightly  orange  hue.  It  is  made 
from  quercitron  bark  as  are  Dutch  Pink  and  Brown  Pink.  Not 
a  permanent  color  in  strong  light  as  originally  made.  It  fades  too 
easily.  When  made  from  coal  tar  yellows  it  is  a  much  more 
satisfactory  color  for  glazing. 

Dutch  Link.  This  is  a  peculiar  olive  yellow  which  is  made 
from  quercitron  tree  bark.  It  is  not  much  used  by  painters 
except  for  coloring  small  ornamental  surfaces.  It  has  good 
transparency  and  pleasing  color. 

Golden  Ochre.  A  rather  indefinite  color  name  but  usually 
applies  to  mixtures  of  yellow  ochre  and  raw  sienna.  Some 
colors  sold  under  this  name  are  transparent  and  some  are  not. 
Usually  it  is  a  fast  color  to  light.  Raw  sienna  can  usually  be 
used  instead. 

Strontian  "Yellow.  A  light,  greenish  yellow  so  near  to  the 
hue  of  light  or  lemon  chrome  yellow  that  the  latter  may  be 
used  instead.  Strontian  yellow,  however,  is  more  transparent. 
It  is  fairly  fast  to  light  and  is  a  chromate  of  the  metal  strontium. 

Indian  Yellow.  A  fairly  dark  color  which  tends  toward  the 
tans  and  browns.  Not  much  used  except  by  artists  and  in  a 
limited  way  by  decorators  for  glazing  small  surfaces.  Mixtures 
of  other  cheaper  yellows  serve  better.  Placed  in  the  sun  Indian 
yellow  fades  too  readily. 

'Zinc  Yellow.  Called  Buttercup  Yellow.  A  bright,  greenish 
hue  similar  to  lemon  chrome  yellow  made  from  lead.  It  is  also 
called  Zinc  Chromate  and  is  used  in  a  limited  way  by  artists  and 
decorators  on  small  surfaces.  It  is  more  expensive  than  l^d 
yellows,  lemon  or  light  chrorpe  yellow  for  instance,  but  is  more 
transparent  and  thus  better  for  glazing. 

Cadmium  Yellow.  A  bit  redder  than  medium  chrome  yellow. 
Lemon  yellow  cadmium  has  somewhat  of  a  warm  tone  but 
transmits  an  unusual  amount  of  green  staining  strength  when 
mixed  with  blue  and  it  likewise  makes  strong  and  clear  orange 
colors  when  mixed  with  red.  The  cadmium  yellows  are  perma¬ 
nent  and  fast  to  light  exposure.  They  are  used  by  decortors 
and  artists  on  furniture  and  pictorial  surfaces.  These  colors  are 
more  expensive  and  less  opaque  than  the  lead  chrome  yellows. 

GREENS:  Chrome  Green,  light,  medium  and  dark.  These 
are  the  most  important  and  most  economical  of  this  group  of 
colors  and  they  may  be  had  in  dry  form  as  well  as  ground  in 
oil.  Used  thin  they  are  transparent  enough  for  glaze  stain  coats 

[74] 


and  when  raw  sienna  is  added  they  make  beautiful  olive  shades. 
The  chrome  greens  are  not  exactly  fast  when  exposed  to  direct 
sunlight  but  they  are  permanent  enough  for  all  practical  pur¬ 
poses  on  interior  surfaces. 

Emerald  Green  (Paris).  This  is  a  compound  of  copper  and 
arsenic  which  is  very  poisonous.  A  vivid  bluish  green  that  has 
but  little  value  in  decorating  except  for  occasional  small  sur¬ 
faces.  A  more  expensive  color  than  the  chrome  greens.  Fairly 
opaque  and  not  very  stable  when  mixed  with  other  colors. 

Alizarin  Green.  A  coal  tar  base  color  which  is  very  trans¬ 
parent  and  is  used  for  glazing  on  small  surfaces.  It  is  permanent 
to  light  and  more  expensive  by  far  than  other  greens. 

Green  Lake.  A  coal  tar  aniline  color  of  good  transparency 
and  permanent  enough  for  interior  surfaces.  Used  only  for 
small  areas  because  of  high  cost. 

Malachite  Green.  A  dark,  yellowish  green  used  on  small  sur¬ 
faces.  Has  little  tinting  strength  mixed  with  white  or  other 
colors  and  it  fades  too  readily  in  strong  light  to  be  of  great 
use.  It  is  especially  fugitive  in  the  presence  of  sulphur  gas.  A 
similar  and  more  practical  hue  is  mixed  from  emeraude  green, 
zinc  oxide  and  raw  sienna  and  mixing  the  color  that  way  it  does 
not  fade  in  strong  light. 

Emeraude  Green  (Viridian).  This  is  one  of  the  most  perma¬ 
nent  of  greens  to  strong  light.  A  light,  bright  green  which  is 
stable  chemically  in  mixtures  with  other  pigments.  It  is  much 
the  same  color  as  chrome  oxide  green.  Decidedly  beautiful  tints 
and  shades  of  olive  green  are  mixed  from  emeraude,  raw  sienna 
and  zinc  yellow.  This  green  is  much  used  by  decorators  and 
artists.  It  has  good  transparency  for  glaze  staining.  It  is  too 
expensive  for  use  on  large  surfaces. 

-  Verdigris  Green.  One  of  the  copper  base  greens  which  has  a 
bluish  rather  than  yellowish  hue.  Used  to  some  extent  as  a 
glaze  color  over  copper  and  bronze  ground  coats  to  give  an 
antique  copper  finish.  A  rather  fugitive  color  in  strong  light  and 
it  is  adversely  influenced  by  sulphur  gases.  Used  only  On  small 
surfaces. 

BLUES:  Prussian.  One  of  the  most  valuable  and  transparent 
of  glaze  colors.  It  has  very  great  strength  in  tinting  and  while 
it  is  not  absolutely  fast  in  strong  light  it  is  sufficiently  permanent 
for  interior  surfaces.  Not  an  expensive  color  and  used  for  large 
as  well  as  small  surfaces.  Also  called  Chinese  blue. 

Antwerp  Blue.  A  Prussian  blue  which  is  altered  a  bit  to 
possess  a  translucent  quality  by  the  addition  of  alumina  hydrate. 
It  has  about  the  same  permanency  as  Prussian  blue,  except  that 
it  has  a  tendency  to  turn  green  when  mixed  with  white  lead, 
chrome  yellow  or  American  vermilion,  the  lead  pigment  colors. 
Ultramarine  blue  and  emeraude  green  are  mixed  by  artists  and 
decorators  to  give  the  Antwerp  blue  shade.  The  color  is  used 
only  on  small  areas.  -  . -  - 


[75] 


ultramarine  Blue.  One  of  our  most  valuable  colors  which  has 
fine  transparency  for  glazing  and  very  pleasing  hue.  A  good 
point  to  keep  in  mind  about  it  is  that  while  it  is  not  adversely 
affected  by  alkali,  as  to  fading,  it  is  destroyed  by  acids.  Prussian 
blue  is  the  reverse  —  it  is  faded  by  alkali  but  not  affected  by 
acids  as  is  ultramarine.  Ultramarine  is  lighter  in  color  than 
Prussian  and  has  only  about  one-tenth  the  tinting  strength  of 
Prussian  blue.  Mixed  with  white  ultramarine  blue  produces  tints 
which  have  a  reddish  cast,  while  Prussian  blue  tints  have  a  green¬ 
ish  cast. 

Ultramarine  blue  is  considered  fast  and  non-fading  in  strong 
light.  This  blue  is  used  on  both  large  and  small  surfaces  for 
glaze  staining.  It  is  moderate  in  price. 

French  Blue.  An  especially  fine  grade  of  ultramarine  blue 
made  with  extreme  care  to  gain  color  and  in  the  washing  to  free 
it  from  an  excess  of  sulphur  and  impurities.  It  is  especially  valued 
for  mixing  with  alizarin  crimson  to  produce  clear  and  bright 
purples. 

Cobalt  Blue.  A  much  lighter  color  than  ultramarine  but 
basicly  very  much  like  it.  It  is  stable  chemically  and  one  of  the 
most  expensive  of  the  blues.  Much  used  in  making  pottery  and 
dishes.  Permanent  to  light.  Used  by  decorators  only  on  small 
areas. 

Cerulean  Blue.  A  lighter  blue  than  cobalt  but  closely  related 
to  that  color.  It  is  permanent  and  stable  in  strong  light  and 
for  intermixing  with  other  colors  and  white.  The  cheaper 
grades  are  apt  to  be  gritty  and  show  a  tendency  to  turn  green 
on  exposure  in  time.  Not  much  used  except  on  small  areas. 

New  Blue.  This  is  cobalt  blue  in  a  cheaper  grade.  It  is  about 
the  same  color  as  cobalt  but  in  darker  shades  is  nearer  to  ultra- 
marine  blue  color.  Permanent  and  stable  in  strong  light.  Used 
for  small  surface  areas  only. 

REDS:  Burnt  Sienna.  An  earth  color  which  is  absolutely 
permanent  in  strong  light.  It  has  good  transparency  and  is  much 
used  as  a  glaze  color  on  large  and  small  surfaces.  Moderate  in 
price.  Stable  in  mixtures  with  other  colors  and  with  white. 
Rather  a  dull  red,  but  the  best  grades  are  fairly  bright  and  more 
transparent. 

Alizarin  Lake.  A  coal  tar  color  of  brilliant  hue  like  scarlet  and 
carmine.  It  is  much  used  for  making  fast  mahogany  stains  and 
for  glazing  by  the  decorator  and  artist.  It  is  very  transparent, 
strong  in  tinting  and  one  of  the  most  permanent  bright  reds 
known.  An  expensive  color  which  is  used  sparingly  on  small 
surfaces. 

Carmine.  A  color  of  insect  origin  as  made  originally  from 
the  cochineal  insects  found  on  cactus  plants  of  Mexico  and  the 
West  Indies.  Brilliant  in  hue  and  very  transparent,  but  fades 

C76] 


too  quickly  in  strong  light.  An  expensive  color  and  not  much 
used  by  the  decorator  even  on  small  surfaces. 

Geranium  Lake.  A  coal  tar  aniline  color.  Red  with  a  bluish 
hue.  Very  transparent  and  fairly  permanent,  depending  upon 
how  it  is  made.  Used  on  small  surfaces  only.  Very  expensive. 

Crimson  Lake.  Similar  to  carmine  but  not  so  brilliant  nor  as 
strong  in  tinting  ability  when  made  from  the  insects.  Little 
used  and  only  on  small  areas.  As  made  from  coal  tar  dyes  it  is 
more  transparent,  permanent  and  satisfactory.  An  expensive 
color. 

Scarlet  Lake.  A  coal  tar  red  similar  to  carmine  of  natural 
origin.  Just  as  bright  and  transparent  and  more  permanent. 
Used  only  on  small  surfaces  for  glazing.  Very  expensive. 

Rose  Link.  The  same  color,  practically,  as  Rose  Lake. 

Rose  Lake.  A  coal  tar  color  made  like  Scarlet  Lake.  An 
agreeable  and  very  transparent  color  which  is  expensive  and  is 
used  for  glazing  small  surfaces.  Sufficiently  permanent  in  strong 
light  for  interior  exposure  only.  Too  expensive  for  use  on  large 
surfaces. 

Magenta  Mauve.  The  first  of  the  coal  tar  colors  made.  Very 
rich  in  color  of  a  bluish  hue  and  transparent.  It  is  transparent 
and  permanent  for  interior  use,  but  too  expensive  for  any  except 
small  areas. 

Y ermilion.  Not  exactly  a  glaze  color  but  sometimes  used  thin 
for  its  brilliancy  and  great  permanency  of  hue.  It  has  too  much 
opacity  for  an  ideal  glaze  color.  American  vermilion  is  a  bit 
less  expensive  and  generally  serves  just  as  well  as  English  and 
Chinese  vermilions.  The  American  vermilion  is  a  basic  lead 
chromate.  The  English  and  Chinese  vermilions  are  mercury  or 
sulphur-base  colors  which  are  not  so  permanent  when  mixed  with 
white  lead  and  lead  base  colors.  Vermilions  are  bright,  vivid 
reds  and  lean  toward  a  yellowish  hue. 

Sizing  Rufkote  Finished  Sttrfaces 

As  has  been  stated  a  color  glaze  stain  penetrates  deeply  into  the 
porous  Rufkote  surface  which  is  dry.  Such  penetration  may 
prevent  wiping  off  as  much  of  the  stain  as  you  wish  to  or  it  may 
prevent  the  even  distribution  of  the  glaze  color.  On  some  tex¬ 
tures  this  adds  to  the  artistic  coloring,  but  on  others  it  prevents 
getting  the  exact  effect  wanted  of  a  fairly  uniform  or  nicely 
mottled  glaze  color;  it  causes  blotches  of  dark  color  which 
cannot  be  wiped  out  as  wanted.  To  avoid  deep  penetration  of 
the  glaze  stain  color  you  may  simply  apply  a  coat  of  clear  water 
to  the  Rufkote  immediately  before  the  water  glaze  is  applied 
in  some  cases.  A  better  way  is  to  apply  a  good  size  to  uniform 
suction.  Glue  size,  made  by  soaking  good  white  glue  flakes  in 
cold  water  an  hour  or  over  night  and  then  dissolving  in  hot 
water,  is  suitable.  Proportions  of  glue  and  water,  the  strength 
of  the  size,  is  not  so  important  for  sizing  Rufkote  as  for 

[77] 


smooth  plaster  walls  —  1  pound  of  first-class  glue  to  a  gallon 
of  water  is  about  as  strong  as  the  size  should  be  made  and  usually 
about  one-half  that  amount  of  glue  of  good  quality  is  sufficient. 
This  is  a  suitable  size  for  Rufkote  to  be  glazed.  Sizes  made 
from  mixtures  of  linseed  oil,  varnish  and  turpentine  or  benzine 
also  serve  to  stop  suction  or  uniform  it. 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze 

In  order  to  produce  glaze  stained  finishes  which  are  uniformly 
mottled  and  blended  on  each  wall  and  ceiling,  and  what  is 
equally  important  to  be  able  to  match  up  the  color  glazing  one 
wall  with  another,  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  suitable  glazing  liquid 
to  mix  the  glaze  stain  colors.  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  is  a  liquid 
made  especially  to  retard  the  setting  of  colors  long  enough  to 
permit  you  to  mottle  and  blend  them  perfectly  for  uniform 
effects  and  then  it  dries  hard  and  binds  the  colors  firmly  to  the 
surface. 

Highlighting  the  Colors 

This  term  refers  to  the  common  practice  of  wiping  glaze-stain 
coats  while  they  are  wet  with  a  cloth  to  remove  the  color  from 
the  high  ridges  of  the  texture  and  flat  surfaces.  Thus  the  color 
is  allowed  to  remain  much  darker  in  the  crevices  and  rough 
places,  giving  a  most  interesting  display  of  different  color  values. 
Nearly  all  textures  are  improved  by  glazing  in  color  and  high¬ 
lighting  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze  makes  it  possible  to  wipe  the 
glaze  colors  more  artistically  and  gives  a  longer  time  for  this 
wiping  before  the  color  strikes  in  deeply. 


Fig.  49. 
[78  ] 


Sanding  Textured  ’Einishes 

After  some  textures  are  dry  and  have  been  given  the  glaze- 
stain  coat  another  color  value  can  be  added  by  simply  going 
over  the  surface  with  a  piece  of  No.  1  sandpaper  and  clipping 
off  the  high  points  of  ridges.  This  reveals  the  color  of  the 
Rufkote  first  put  on,  white  or  tinted.  Sanding  of  textures  im¬ 
proves  some  textures  and  injures  others.  Figure  49  shows  the 
result  of  sandpapering  a  glazed  texture. 

Bronze  and  Vainted  Ground  Coats 

For  certain  decorative  effects  Rufkote  is  textured  in  its  natu¬ 
ral  white  color  and  allowed  to  dry.  Then  the  surface  is  given  a 
glue  size  and  is  painted  in  flat  paint  to  suit.  For  some  purposes 
the  texture  is  painted  with  bronze  in  gold  or  other  color.  The 
dry  bronze  is  mixed  with  a  liquid  composed  of  one  part  benzine 
or  turpentine  to  two  parts  good  floor  varnish.  Solid  covering  is 
gained  in  one  coat  of  bronze  by  mixing  enough  bronze  powder 
into  the  liquid.  When  the  bronze  is  dry  an  oil  glaze-stain  is  put 
on  and  is  wiped  to  highlight  it.  This  stain  is  mixed  from  tinting 
colors  ground  in  oil  and  Rufkote  Wall  Glaze. 

Smut  Coats 

Textures  are  often  used  in  rooms  having  old  Spanish  or  Italian 
architecture  and  where  an  antique  effect  is  wanted.  Rufkote 
is  applied  and  textured,  glaze-stained  and  wiped  and  then  is 
allowed  to  dry.  After  that  a  glue  size  is  spread  over  the  texture 
and  while  it  is  wet  dry  rottonstone  is  pounced  on  to  give  an  old, 
dusty  effect.  The  dry  rottenstone  is  put  into  a  piece  of  loose 
woven  muslin  about  as  big  as  a  handkerchief,  the  ends  are  drawn 
together  and  tied.  By  pounding  the  wall  with  this  the  rotten- 
stone  sifts  through  and  sticks  to  the  wet  glue  size. 

Starching  Walls 

Walls  decorated  with  Rufkote  textures  can  be  washed  just  as 
any  painted  wall.  Fiowever,  the  washing  is  more  easily  and 
quickly  done  and  the  dirt  is  removed  more  completely  if  the 
walls  are  given  a  coat  of  starch  while  new.  The  starch  prevents 
the  dust  and  smoke  accumulations  from  penetrating  into  the 
wall  surface  and  when  the  washing  is  done  the  starch  comes  off 
with  the  dirt.  When  starching  is  properly  done  it  cannot  be  seen 
on  the  walls  and  does  not  change  the  color  in  the  least. 

Use  ordinary  laundry  starch.  Place  the  dry  starch  in  a  pail 
and  pour  over  it  a  little  cold  water.  Mix  the  starch  well  with 
the  fingers  to  break  up  the  lumps  and  then  pour  on  boiling 
water.  Cook  the  starch  ten  to  fifteen  minutes  at  the  boiling 
point.  When  properly  mixed  in  this  manner  the  starch  will  be 
perfectly  transparent.  Apply  it  to  the  wall  with  a  calcimine 
brush  and  stipple  it  with  a  wall  stippling  brush  to  distribute  it 

[79] 


evenly.  You  may  add  a  little  dry  color  to  tone  it  to  the  wall, 
but  this  should  be  thoroughly  mixed.  A  very  little  color  is 
needed  and  if  too  much  is  used  it  will  spot  the  wall.  When 
starch  is  mixed  with  cold  water  only  it  turns  to  a  white  powder 
on  the  wall.  It  is  the  cooking  that  makes  it  transparent. 

A  coat  of  buttermilk  applied  without  thinning  serves  the 
same  purpose  as  starch  and  is  less  trouble  to  get  ready.  If  there 
are  lumps  of  butter  fat  in  it  strain  them  out  through  cheese 
cloth. 

Polychrome  Finishes 

Reference  is  made  often  to  polychrome  finishes  and  the 
meaning  is  not  always  clear  to  some.  Literally  polychrome 
means  done  in  many  colors.  Consequently,  any  bit  of  decoration 
done  in  several  colors  is  a  polychrome  finish.  A  rather  narrow 
construction  has  been  put  upon  this  word  these  past  few  years, 
however,  and  the  term  is  usually  employed  to  describe  such 
finishes  as  are  noted  on  lamp  stands,  book  ends,  ornamental 
iron  furniture  and  architecture  and  antique  furniture. 

Methods  employed  to  produce  polychrome  finishes  differ  some¬ 
what  as  to  the  number  of  coats  and  kind  of  materials  used  for 
ground  coats  but  they  are  essentially  alike  in  general.  On  furni¬ 
ture  and  wood  trim  the  ground  colors  may  be  stained  finish, 
natural  wood  color,  enamel,  paint  or  lacquer.  On  plaster  walls 
and  ceilings  the  ground  coats  consist  of  size,  paint,  enamel, 
bronze  or  lacquer  enamel.  Ground  coats  on  wood,  metal  or 
plaster  may  be  and  often  are  aluminum,  gold,  copper  or  other 
colored  bronzes  and  on  fine  work  the  ground  may  be  painted, 
sized  and  covered  with  real  gold  leaf,  silver  leaf  or  Dutch  metal. 
The  essential  thing  is  that  the  ground  should  be  either  a  bright 
color  or  a  bright  metal.  All  of  these  grounds  are  used  on 
Rufkote  after  sizing. 

Having  a  suitable  ground  color  and  suction  stopped  the  poly¬ 
chrome  finish  proceeds  with  one  or  more  colors,  ground-in-oil 
or  japan,  and  thinned  with  turpentine  used  thin,  as  a  glaze  stain. 
They  are  brushed  over  the  bright  colors  of  the  design  or  the 
metal  grounds.  The  glaze  is  wiped  with  a  cloth  while  wet  to  pro¬ 
duce  highlights,  allowing  the  glaze  color  to  remain  only  in  the 
depressions.  This  glaze  stain  may  be  any  of  the  transparent  or 
semi-transparent  tinting  colors  ground-in-oil.  Often  the  glaze  is 
simply  raw  umber.  Van  Dyke  brown  or  a  mixture  of  raw  and 
burnt  umber  to  give  an  antique  effect.  The  ground  colors  over 
which  this  antique  glaze  stain  is  used  are  usually  opaque  and 
bright. 

After  the  ground  colors,  or  metals,  are  on  and  the  glaze  stain 
has  been  applied  and  wiped,  the  polychrome  finish  may  be  given 
a  smut  coat  as  described  in  the  preceding  sections  of  this  chapter. 
Or  the  rottenstone  used  for  the  smut  coat  may  be  mixed  with 
turpentine,  brushed  on  and  wiped  off  high  refief. 

[80] 


CHAPTER  VIII 


Relief  and  Stencil  Decorative  Effects,  Die- 
Pressed  Fibre  Relief  Ornament  for  Placque^ 
Frieze,  Band  and  Spot  Decorations  in 
Rufkote  and  Polychrome  Finishes 

Much  charm  and  interest  is  added  to  decoration  by  using 
the  third  dimension  to  add  depth  or  thickness  to  the  pic¬ 
tures.  This  depth  gives  us  what  is  called  low  relief  decora¬ 
tions  for  forms  which  have  the  minimum  depth  and  high  relief 
for  forms  which  are  much  deeper.  In  addition  to  coming  nearer 
to  the  natural  forms  of  the  objects  pictured,  relief  decoration  adds 
a  point  of  great  interest  in  the  way  of  an  interesting  play  of 
light  and  shadow  on  the  surfaces.  Relief  decoration  also  offers 
far  greater  opportunity  for  interesting  use  of  colors. 

Few  decorators  are  possessed  of  sufficient  skill  to  model  deco¬ 
rative  forms  free-hand  on  architectural  surfaces  as  the  sculptor 
works.  Furthermore,  the  amount  of  money  paid  for  architectural 
decoration  on  most  jobs  is  not  sufficient  to  warrant  spending 
the  amount  of  time  on  the  surfaces  which  is  called  for  by  free¬ 
hand  or  sculptured  ornament.  Fortunately,  there  is  a  method  by 
which  interesting  and  artistic  relief  decoration  can  be  applied  in 
a  practical  way.  It  is  a  method  that  can  be  used  by  anyone 
accustomed  to  working  with  decorators’  tools,  and  it  calls  for 
no  more  than  an  elementary  training  in  drawing.  The  essential 
tool,  the  stencil,  can  be  purchased  ready  to  use.  Ordinary  sten¬ 
cils  cut  from  heavy  oiled  paper  are  ideal  for  the  production  of 
relief  decorations,  using  Rufkote  plastic  stone  to  form  the  de¬ 
signs  in  three  dimensions.  There  are  catalog  stocks  of  stencils 
of  great  variety  and  in  many  sizes  and  they  are  not  expensive. 
Most  paint  supply  houses  carry  them.  However,  the  decorator 
who  has  learned  to  design  his  own  stencils  has  a  great  advantage, 
because  to  him  the  whole  field  of  historic  and  period  ornament  is 
open.  Further  than  that  he  is  able  to  find  an  unlimited  number 
of  modern  designs  in  art  magazines,  posters,  advertising  literature, 
school  drawing  books,  art  books,  newspapers  and  on  wall  paper 
which  can  quickly  be  redesigned  for  application  by  the  stencil 
process.  As  a  rule  such  designs  are  too  small  for  large  surfaces, 
but  that  is  easily  overcome  by  enlarging  the  designs  by  means  of 
\  an  inexpensive  tool  called  a  pantagraph,  for  sale  at  paint  and  art 
\  stores.  Directions  for  use  come  with  the  tool.  Briefly,  it  is  neces- 

\  sary  simply  to  cut  out  the  design  which  is  to  be  enlarged  or 

reduced  in  size,  secure  it  on  a  large  piece  of  drawing  paper  with 
thumb  tacks  and  then  set  up  the  machine  to  trace  it.  The  design 
can  be  enlarged  to  many  sizes  and  then  it  is  simple  for  any 

[81] 


Fig.  50. 

decorator  who  knows  stencils  and  their  use  to  redesign  the  pic¬ 
ture  to  make  a  stencil. 

Stencils  for  use  in  making  relief  decorations  may  be  the 
ordinary  type  having  ties  properly  placed  to  form  part  of  the 
design  in  a  flowing,  natural  direction,  rather  than  abruptly  and 
awkwardly,  or  they  may  consist  of  two,  three  or  four  stencil 
plates  to  reproduce  one  design.  Then  no  ties,  or  few  ties,  are 
necessary.  ,A  stencil  is  cut  for  each  part  of  the  design.  Some¬ 
times  one  is  cut  for  each  color  to  be  used  in  the  design.  All 
stencils  cut  for  one  design  must  be  made  to  register  one  with  the 
other.  This  type  of  stencil,  called  multi-color  stencils  by  some, 
is  well  illustrated  by  Figure  50,  a  high  relief  decoration  made 
with  Rufkote  and  using  a  small  magazine  clipping  about  one 
and  one-half  inches  in  diameter  to  begin  with. 

This  clipping  was  a  poster  design  and  it  was  enlarged  to  eleven 
and  one-half  inches  in  diameter.  It  could  have  been  made  three 
or  four  feet  in  diameter,  if  desired,  by  using  the  pantagraph. 
Three  stencils  were  cut  to  reproduce  this  design.  One  stencil 
had  cut  into  it  only  the  animal  and  the  broken  ring  of  white 
forming  the  outside  border.  The  second  stencil  had  on  it  only 
the  leave  branches  and  dark  spots  on  the  animal.  The  third  had 
cut  into  it  the  dark  border  ring  with  four  ties  which  were  filled 
in  later  to  eliminate  them. 

The  decoration  was  produced  after  this  manner.  The  wall 
panel  was  coated-in  with  Rufkote  and  the  cross-hatch  texture 
produced  as  described  elsewhere  in  this  booklet.  While  the  tex¬ 
ture  was  still  in  the  white,  that  is,  before  glazing  it  with  the 


[82] 


stain  color  and  wiping  it  was  sized  with  glue  and  the  stencil  was 
applied,  using  Rufkote  of  ordinary  consistency.  It  was  knifed 
on  through  the  stencil  openings,  using  a  putty  knife  and  a 
small  pocket  spatula  knife.  The  portions  shown  in  the  photo¬ 
graph  as  white  were  done  in  white,  natural  colored  Rufkote. 
The  other  two  stencils  were  applied  with  Rufkote  colored  black 
with  dry  Swedish  black.  The  animal  in  this  design  is  done  in 
deep  relief,  the  Rufkote  being  piled  on  to  a  thickness  of  about 
one-quarter  inch  for  the  most  part,  but  it  tapers  off  at  the  edges 
to  the  thickness  of  the  stencil  paper.  The  balance  of  the  design 
is  done  in  low  relief  (the  thickness  of  the  stencil  paper).  After 
the  whole  design  was  applied  and  was  dry  it  was  sized  with  glue 
and  a  glaze  stain  applied  to  the  whole  wall  texture  and  the 
design.  In  this  case  dry  raw  sienna  was  mixed  with  glue  size 
and  brushed  over  the  surface,  after  the  whole  area  had  been 
given  a  coat  of  glue  size  which  was  dry.  While  the  glaze  stain 
was  wet  the  wall  texture  was  wiped  with  a  cloth  to  remove 
most  of  the  color,  all  except  what  lodged  in  the  deep  brush 
marks  of  the  texture.  The  stencil  decoration  was  wiped  with  a 
wet  cloth  on  the  parts  showing  very  light.  The  background  of 
the  stencil  design  was  not  wiped  at  all.  The  result  of  this  method 
of  handling  is  a  pleasing  color  treatment,  showing  the  wall  panel 
in  light  buff,  the  animal  and  outer  border  in  old  ivory,  the  inside 
border  and  foliage  in  black. 


Fig.  51. 
[83] 


Fig.  52. 


Ordinary  Stencil  Decoration  in  Relief 

The  use  of  an  ordinary  stencil  having  ties  is  quite  a  simple 
piece  of  work,  using  Rufkote  in  natural  white  or  colored.  The 
stencil  is  placed  in  the  right  location  on  a  wall  that  has  been 
textured  with  Rufkote  in  white  or  color  and  sized  with  glue. 
Secure  the  stencil  with  pins  and  hold  it  flat  with  the  left  hand. 
Mix  Rufkote  to  a  thick  consistency  and  apply  it  like  putty 
through  the  stencil  to  the  wall  or  ceiling.  When  the  stencil  cut¬ 
out  portions  have  been  well  filled  with  Rufkote,  pressing  it 
firmly  in  contact  with  the  surface,  scrape  off  all  excess  of  mate¬ 
rial  from  around  the  openings  to  cut  the  design  clean.  Figure 
5 1  shows  this  operation  as  conducted  when  low  relief  decoration 
is  wanted.  Allow  the  Rufkote  to  set  a  few  minutes  and  gently 
lift  the  stencil  off  the  surface.  If  any  details  have  not  been 
transferred  in  a  firm  and  sharp  manner  they  can  be  touched  up 
with  a  little  Rufkote,  using  a  small  spatula  knife  for  the  pur¬ 
pose.  There  may  be  a  wire  edge  or  bit  of  roughness  in  evidence 
on  the  transferred  decoration  but  pay  no  attention  to  that  until 
the  Rufkote  is  dry.  It  can  then  be  smoothed  up  with  a  piece 
of  fine  sandpaper. 

When  deep  relief  is  wanted  follow  the  same  method  except 
that  before  the  stencil  has  been  removed  pile  on  more  Rufkote 
to  the  center  areas  of  the  design,  smooth  them  over  only  fairly 
well  with  the  small  knife  and  round  the  areas  off  on  all  sides 
toward  the  stencil  edge.  Let  the  Rufkote  dry  a  little,  until  no 
longer  sticky,  and  then  pat  the  surface  with  your  fingers  to  give 

[84] 


a  hand-modeled  effect  noted  on  sculptured  pieces  of  art.  In 
other  words,  a  slightly  rippled,  unevened  surface  is  desirable. 

The  coloring  of  the  relief  decoration  may  be  done  in  two 
ways.  The  Rufkote  used  to  form  the  design  may  be  colored 
by  mixing  with  it  colors  ground  in  oil  or  dry  colors,  preparing 
a  separate  batch  for  each  part  of  the  design  to  be  colored.  Or 
the  whole  design  may  be  transferred  in  white,  natural  Rufkote 
which  is  allowed  to  dry,  is  sandpapered  and  sized  and  then  colors 
in  oil,  dry  color  and  glue  size  or  bronzes  mixed  with  regular 
bronzing  liquids  or  a  mixture  of  one  part  floor  varnish  and  one 
part  turpentine,  are  applied  with  small  brushes.  A  very  rich  col¬ 
oring  results  from  simply  applying  the  glaze  stain  color  to  the 
textured  wall  and  the  relief  decoration  at  the  same  time,  wiping 
the  color  from  the  high  points  of  the  design,  but  allowing  the 
dark  color  to  remain  in  the  background  of  the  design.  Note 
Figure  51. 

Figure  52  shows  the  same  design  applied  in  white,  after  poly¬ 
chrome  finishing.  The  border  was  coated  with  aluminum  bronze. 
The  animal  at  the  top  was  glazed  in  bright  red,  vermilion,  the 
middle  animal  was  glazed  in  yellow,  light  chrome,  and  the  bot¬ 
tom  animal  was  glazed  in  blue,  Prussian  and  white.  All  three 
animals  were  wiped  while  the  colors  were  wet  to  give  an  uneven, 
mottled  coloring.  The  background  was  finally  colored  with 


Fig.  53. 
[  85] 


Van  Dyke  brown  ground-in-oil  and  thinned  with  turpentine  only. 
The  glaze  color  used  on  the  wall  decorated  with  this  relief  orna¬ 
ment  was  run  over  the  aluminum  bronze  border  to  subdue  it 
a  bit. 

Tapestry  Relief  Decorations 

The  type  of  stencils  called  diaper  and  all-over  designs  make 
very  beautiful  wall  decorations.  They  are  such  as  cover  the 
whole  wall,  or  better  yet,  all  of  the  areas  within  panel  mouldings 
with  decoration.  Such  stencils  are  rather  numerous  in  catalogs 
and  one  pictured  in  Figure  54  is  a  stock  design,  a  stencil  which 
is  24x30  inches  in  size.  This  type  of  design  is  often  employed 
in  theatres,  clubs,  fine  retail  stores,  and  in  fact,  in  many  build¬ 
ings  where  very  rich  decorations  are  produced.  Sometimes  the 
background  is  dark  and  the  relief  decoration  light,  sometimes 
the  color  values  are  reversed.  Bronze  ground  colors,  aluminum, 
copper  or  gold,  are  sometimes  used  with  remarkable  beauty.  The 
bronze  paint  is  applied  after  the  Rufkote  has  been  textured  and 
the  design  stencilled  on  in  white.  A  size  comes  next  and  then 
the  bronze.  The  bronze  is  applied  to  design  and  background 
alike. 

When  dry  a  glaze  stain,  using  oil  colors  thinned  with  flatting 
oil,  or  with  a  glazing  liquid  manufactured  for  the  purpose,  or 
with  a  glazing  liquid  made  up  of  1  part  boiled  linseed  oil,  2  parts 
turpentine  or  benzine  and  4  parts  flat  varnish,  is  applied  to  the 
whole  surface.  While  wet  the  glaze  is  wiped  off  the  relief  decora¬ 
tion  after  the  whole  surface  has  been  stippled  with  a  wall 
stippling  brush  or  mottled  with  a  wad  of  cheese  cloth.  The 
bronze  ground  shows  through  the  glaze  stain  in  a  dull,  metallic 
sheen  which  is  positively  beautiful  without  being  gaudy. 

The  tapestry  stencil  designs  of  this  type  are  sometimes  applied 
over  a  full  gloss  ground  color,  making  design  flat  in  contrast.  On 
other  jobs  the  reverse  is  produced,  gloss  design  on  a  flat  ground. 
Flat  ground  and  flat  design  makes  an  attractive  combination, 
but  when  both  ground  and  design  are  full  gloss  the  effect  is 
much  cheapened,  it  looks  gaudy. 

To  come  to  the  specific  decoration  shown  in  Figure  54.  It 
was  done  by  first  coating  in  the  wall  with  Rufkote  as  usual. 
While  wet  the  material  was  stippled  with  a  wall  stippling  brush. 
Allowing  the  Rufkote  to  set  until  the  sticky  character  had  left 
the  surface  was  modeled  a  bit  by  working  the  palm  of  the 
hand  over  it.  The  texture  was  allowed  to  dry  and  given  a 
coat  of  glue  size  and  the  stencil  was  then  applied,  using  Rufkote 
in  natural  white  to  form  the  design  and  smoothing  it  off  level  to 
the  stencil  thickness — low  relief.  The  stencil  was  removed  and 
when  the  Rufkote  was  dry  the  surface  was  sandpapered  lightly 
with  No.  1  paper  and  brushed  off. 


[86  1 


Fig.  54. 

Tupeslry  Relief  Decoration 


[87] 


Fic.  55. 


Detached y  Spot  Decorations 

For  the  decoration  of  wall  and  ceiling  panels,  friezes  and  even 
door  panels  and  other  wood  trim  a  great  many  designs  are 
available,  both  in  the  form  of  stock  designs  and  those  which 
the  decorator  can  pick  up  in  printed  form  and  redesign  for 
stencil  application. 

In  Figure  5  5  is  shown  some  ducks  done  in  high  relief.  The 
starting  of  this  decoration  was  a  very  small  Japanese  design 
clipped  from  a  magazine.  It  was  enlarged  with  the  pantagraph. 
The  wall  panel  was  done  in  Rufkote  using  the  simple  wall 
stipple  brush  texture.  It  was  then  sized  with  glue  and  the  birds 
transferred  with  the  stencil  showing  only  the  outline.  Then  the 
center  areas  were  piled  to  a  depth  of  about  one-quarter  inch  with 
Rufkote  to  make  the  high  relief.  The  Rufkote  was  colored 
a  dark  olive  green,  using  medium  chrome  green  and  raw  sienna. 
The  wall  texture  was  glazed  with  the  same  colors  wiped  well  to 
give  a  light  background.  Of  course,  any  coloring  scheme  could 
be  used,  even  the  natural  colors  of  the  birds. 


1 


[88] 


Fig.  56. 

Greek  Fret  Design. 


Band  and  Border  Decorations 

Figure  5  6  pictures  a  variation  of  the  Greek  key  or  fret  design 
which  has  endured  for  many  centuries  in  one  form  or  another. 
It  is  to  be  had  in  many  widths  from  stock  catalogs.  Band  deco¬ 
rations  are  useful  in  rooms  in  all  manner  of  architecture  and  in 
many  spaces  such  as  at  the  top  of  walls;  above,  below  or  in  place 
of  picture  mouldings,  in  friezes  in  place  of  chair  rails  for  divid¬ 
ing  walls  and  for  borders  of  panels.  The  use  made  of  this  design 
in  Figure  18  was  on  a  marble  effect  texture  and  the  design  was 
done  in  high  relief  about  one-quarter  inch  deep.  The  coloring 
was  simply  that  of  the  glaze  stain  applied  to  the  whole  wall  and 
the  color  was  wiped  to  highlight. 

In  Figure  57  the  same  Greek  fret  was  used  in  a  different  form. 
It  was  applied  with  two  stencils,  one  for  the  vertical  and  one 
for  the  horizontal  portions,  so  as  to  avoid  having  ties.  The  same 
could  be  done  with  ties,  filling  in  by  hand  the  blank  spaces  left 
by  the  stencil  ties. 


Fig.  57. 

Greek  Fret  Design  Inclined. 
[89] 


Fig.  58. 

Filling  the  ornament  with  Rujkote 


Die-Pressed  Fibre  Relief  Ornaments 

There  is  on  the  market  a  type  of  relief  decoration  which  is 
gaining  increasing  use  in  this  country  and  which  has  been  used 
for  many  years  in  Europe.  The  decorations  consist  of  pressed 
white  fibre  about  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  thick.  They  are 
made  from  metal  dies  and  pressed  into  shape  under  great  pressure. 
The  pieces  are  cemented  to  the  wall  and  then  are  colored,  after 
sizing,  to  finish. 

A  simple  form  of  this  type  of  decoration  is  shown  in  Figure  5  8. 
After  applying  the  Rufkote  texture  to  the  surface  and  while 
still  wet  the  pressed  fibre  ornament  is  filled  on  the  back  with 
Rufkote  and  placed  firmly  imbedded  in  the  wall  texture.  On 
large  sheets  a  few  brads  are  used  to  hold  the  fibre  in  place  until 
the  Rufkote  sets.  The  wall  texture  and  relief  ornament  are 
allowed  to  dry  and  then  both  are  sized.  The  finish  may  simply 
consist  of  running  a  glaze  stain  over  wall  texture  and  ornament, 
or  the  relief  ornament  may  be  given  another  color,  or  colors, 
before  the  glaze  is  applied.  In  Figure  59  the  glaze  color  has 
been  run  over  the  relief  decoration  and  wiped  off  the  high  places. 
When  relief  decoration  must  match  the  wall  in  color  the  whole 
surface  should  be  painted  before  glazing  to  uniform  the  founda¬ 
tion  color. 


[90] 


Fig.  59. 


Stock  patterns  of  this  type  of  relief  decoration  are  numerous 
and  the  design  may  be  had  in  simple,  continuous  patterns  for 
bands  and  friezes,  in  the  form  of  detached  or  spot  decorations 
and  in  forms  suitable  for  plaques.  Two  of  the  plaque  types  are 
shown  in  Figure  60.  There  are  four  designs  in  this  series  called 
'"'The  Tourney.”  Each  one  is  about  one  foot  high  and  two  feet 
wide.  There  are  many  others  of  various  sizes,  shapes  and  subjects. 
Some  are  matched  up  in  such  a  way  that  complete  ceilings  can 
be  done  in  true  period  designs. 

The  method  of  handling  the  application  of  this  form  of  relief 
is  illustrated  by  Figure  61.  Rufkote  was  applied  to  the  back 
of  the  fibre  to  fill  up  all  depressions.  After  applying  Rufkote 
to  the  surface  and  texturing  it  the  fibre  relief  decoration  is 
imbedded  into  the  Rufkote  and  the  corners  tacked  down  with 
wire  brads  to  hold  each  form  in  place  while  the  Rufkote  is  set¬ 
ting.  Figure  60  shows  the  plaques  in  places  and  Figure  61  shows 
the  same  surface  after  the  frieze  was  coated  with  Rufkote  to 
fill  up  and  hide  the  edges  of  the  fibre  decoration.  The  Rufkote 
was  brushed  on  and  worked  out  to  a  very  thin  edge  as  it  was 
!  carried  up  close  to  the  figures.  Then  a  wall  stippling  brush  was 
I  used  to  stipple  the  whole  surface.  After  texturing  the  Rufkote 
was  carefully  wiped  out  of  the  depressions  in  the  relief  ornament. 

I  The  fibre  plaques  were  sized  before  application. 


[91] 


Fig.  60. 


Having  the  fibre  decoration  applied  and  textured  with  Rufkote 
the  next  operation  was  to  apply  oil  colors  thinned  with  turpen¬ 
tine  to  the  figures  and  equipment.  Some  of  the  areas  like  the 
armour  and  other  metal  surface  were  coated  with  aluminum 
bronze.  The  harness  was  done  in  copper  bronze.  The  flags  were 
coated  with  aluminum  bronze.  The  ladies’  dresses  and  fabric 
drapes  on  the  horses  were  coated  with  aluminum,  copper  and 
gold  bronzes.  Bright  colors  ground  in  oil  and  thinned  with  tur¬ 
pentine  were  next  spread  on  top  of  the  bronze  coated  surfaces 
after  they  were  dry  and  were  wiped  off  to  show  highlights  and 
allow  some  of  the  metal  bronzes  to  show  through.  Some  of  the 
horses  were  given  a  glaze  color  of  a  dark  nature  and  some  were 
lightly  colored.  All  were  wiped  to  highlight.  Figure  61  shows 
the  figures  after  applying  the  ground  colors  and  bronzes  and 
before  any  glazing  colors  were  applied. 


Fig.  61. 
[92  ] 


r93] 


Figure  62  shows  the  finished  frieze  after  glazing,  wiping  and  filling  in  the  background 

with  Van  Dyke  brown,  dry,  mixed  with  glue  size. 


INDEX 


Page 

Foreword  .  5 

History  of  Textures .  6 

Aged  Rock  Texture  (Materials  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 42 

Application  of  Rufkote . 29 

Backgrounds  of  Colorful,  Enduring  Charm . 12 

Band  and  Border  Decorations . 89 

Band  and  Spot  Decorations  in  Rufkote  and  Polychrome  Finishes, 
Relief  and  Stencil  Decorative  Effects,  Die-Pressed  Fibre 

Relief  Ornament  for  Plaque,  Frieze . 81  to  85 

Brick  Surfaces  . 20 

Bronze  and  Painted  Ground  Coats . 79 

Ceiling  Textures  and  Colorings . 68 

Cleaning  Various  Wall  Surfaces . 24 

Colonial  Type  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 62 

Concrete  Surfaces  . 20 

Cross-Hatch  Pattern  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 56 

Damp  Walls  . 26 

Detached  Spot  Decorations . 88 

Die-Pressed  Fibre  Relief  Ornaments . 90 

Directions  for  Preparing  Size . 16 

Filling  Holes  and  Cracks  in  Walls . 16 

French  Caen  Stone  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 50 

French  Effect  <^Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 55 

Foliage  Texture  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 54 

Glaze-Staining,  Highlighting,  Bronzing . 72  to  77 

Hanging  Open  Mesh  Canvas . 26 

Highlighting  the  Colors . 78 

Holland  Wall  Textures  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 66 

How  to  Use  Rufkote  with  Color . 33 

Italian  Effect  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 52 

Lattice  and  Scroll  Texture  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed)  .  .45 

Metal  Surfaces  . 23 

Mixing  Rufkote  and  the  Addition  of  Color . 28 

Moderately  Rough  Textures . 53 

Multi  Color  Scroll  Texture  (Materials  Needed)  (Tools  Needed)  .  .44 

New  Smooth  Plaster  Walls . 18 

Novelty  Textures . 68 

Old  English  Finish  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 60 

Old  Smooth  Plaster  Walls . 18 

Polychrome  . 72  to  77 

Polychrome  Finishes  . 80 

Preparation  of  Wall  Surfa  ces .  18 

Producing  Texture  Patterns . 34 

Relief  and  Stencil  Decorative  Effects . 81  to  85 

Removing  Cracked  and  Sealing  Paint . 26 

Removing  Wall  Paper  and  Fabrics . 24 

194] 


Page 

Rugged  Textures  for  Large  Rooms . 35 

Roman  Travestine  Texture  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed)  ..  .47 

Rufkote  for  Interior  Walls . 10 

Rufkote  Applied  over  Open  Mesh  Canvas . 27 

Rufkote  Wall  Glaze . 77 

Sand  Finish  or  Brown  Coat . 18 

Sanding  Textured  Finishes . 78 

Sizing  the  Walls . 16 

Smooth  Marble  Finishes  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 63 

Spanish  Palm  Finish  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 46 

Starching  Walls . 79 

Stock  Patterns  of  Relief  Decorations . 91 

Smut  Coats  . . .79 

Starching,  Sizing  and  Smut  Coats . 72  to  77 

Sponge  Pattern  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 61 

Sizing  Rufkote  Finished  Surfaces . 77 

Surface  Preparation  . 15 

Stipple  and  Smooth  Textures  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed)  .  .36 

Square  Trowel  Textures  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 58 

The  Famous  Ring  Test . 11 

Textures  . 14 

Texture  Making  Tools . 31 

Tree  Back  Texture  (Materials  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 38 

Two-Tone  Scroll  Texture  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed)  .... 36 

Verticle  Stripe  Textures  (Material  Needed)  (Tools  Needed) . 64 

Wall  Board  Surfaces . 20 

Washing  Very  Dirty  Walls . 

Wood  Surfaces  . 23 


[95] 


backgrounds  of  Enduring  Charm 

Produced  by  Quality  Wall  Coverings 

Manufactured  by 

H.  B.  WIGGIN’S  SONS  COMPANY 

Bloomfield,  New  Jersey 


REG.  U.  S.  PAT.  OFF. 

Genuine  Cloth  Wall  Coverings 


Architects  and  Decorators  specify  the  use  of  Fab-Rik-O-Na 
Wall  Coverings  because  they  are  well  aware  of  the  non¬ 
fading  colors,  beautiful  designs  and  firm 
non-shrinking  textures 


A  New  Development  in  Plastic 
Stone  For  Interior  Walls 


Historic  wall  effects  and  many  others  of  modern  novel 
types  are  easily  recreated  with  this  new  plastic  stone. 


Weaving  beauty  of  design,  permanent  colors,  firm  textures 
and  durability  into  a  single  wall  covering  fabric — 


that  is  also  washable. 


f  i  i 

Samples  and  Literature  Sent  upon  %equesLj 


[96] 


|H-?v'^  SCv.-  '‘f'':>:>^.l>-  s;  !•  t'..>'-!.  ' 

X-'. .  <}■'' ^■\  .•^'v  ■'<•;■'  ^i-'i'.-Mj‘‘'^  ■’'-I9 

■-‘VS 


'-y-'^iV- 


